Presenter: Kyra Lauersdorf – English, Sociology
Faculty Mentor(s): Katherine Kelp-Stebbins, Matthew Norton
Session: (Virtual) Oral Panel—Read, Speak and Act
The existing scholarship pertaining to James Baldwin tends to examine either his nonfiction essays or his fiction novels, but it rarely places the two alongside each other. This project aims to bridge the schism between the two bodies of work, using the political theory that Baldwin outlines in his nonfiction as a lens through which to analyze his literary fiction. Such an analysis reveals how, in many ways, Baldwin utilized his fiction as a space in which to engage and examine his own political theory. As such, the fiction that Baldwin produced during his lifetime contains as much if not more political ideation than his nonfiction –– and warrants just as much consideration from scholars for its political potential. This project seeks to contribute to existing scholarship on James Baldwin through its interdisciplinary analysis of the author’s works. Ultimately, it argues that Baldwin’s literary fiction possesses significant potential to effect political belief changes among its readers and ought to be valued accordingly.