Trends in James Baldwin Criticism, 2015–16

Abstract

This review article charts the general direction of scholarship in James Baldwin studies between the years 2015 and 2016, reflecting on important scholarly events and publications of the period and identifying notable trends in criticism. While these years witnessed a continuing interest in the relationship of Baldwin's work to other authors and art forms as well as his transnational literary imagination, noted in previous scholarly reviews, three newly emergent trends are notable: an increased attention to Baldwin in journals primarily devoted to the study of literatures in English, a new wave of multidisciplinary studies of Baldwin, and a burgeoning archival turn in Baldwin criticism.

Trends in Baldwin Criticism, 2016–17

“…In her 2015-16 Bibliographic Essay, Jenny M. James highlighted a "burgeoning archival turn" in Baldwin scholarship. 31 That trend received a major boost in April 2017 when it was announced that the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a division of the New York Public Library in Harlem, had acquired a substantial new collection of Baldwin's papers. The acquisition included over seventy boxes of material, including a rich trove of manuscripts, drafts, notes, letters, and audio tapes, most of which had never been seen before.…”