Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2020
Abstract
Taking the cues from James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time (1963) and The Devil Finds Work (1976), this paper will delve into the author's black aesthetics, which-conceived as both ethical and aesthetical-eludes not only the normative Eurocentric gaze but also the Afrocentric one. In particular, Baldwin's archive will be opened up to a rich and resounding polyphony of voices (Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida, Paul Taylor, Frantz Fanon, Fred Moten), motion pictures and art installations (Raoul Peck, Arthur Jafa and Wu Tsang), in order to shed light on the intricate, if not impossible, task of translating the complexity of African-American experience and beauty.