Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

This is such a great book. Love James Baldwin, and I’m happy I reread Native Son right before reading this because his critique of monstrosity in the novel makes a lot of sense in terms of Baldwin’s own American identity. His father, someone who Baldwin says he barely ever spoke to though they lived together along with his mother and his 8 other siblings, would have aligned more with Richard Wright or Bigger Thomas in that he escaped the Jim Crow south. Baldwin didn’t understand his father much while he was still alive, but he nevertheless had to figure himself out as a member of the next generation in Harlem, a place he both loved and hated. Baldwin’s travels outside of the U.S. play an important role in his self-discovery. He writes about going to Paris as well as a remote Swiss village where he was likely the first black person to ever visit. He’s out and about in Paris, trying to write but often getting distracted. Then, with all it’s seclusion, he’s able to put his head down and w