Just Above My Head (Penguin Modern Classics) - Softcover

Baldwin, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140187995 ISBN 13: 9780140187991

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1994

Synopsis

'This is the work of a born storyteller at the height of his powers' Edmund White, Washington Post

When Arthur Montana, world-renowned 'Emperor of Soul', is found dead in a London pub, his grief-stricken brother looks back over thirty years in the lives of their group of friends: from their childhood spent preaching and singing in Harlem churches, to their struggles with war and poverty, and their encounters with wealth, love and fame.

Set against a vividly drawn background of the civil rights movement of the sixties, Baldwin's last novel is a monumental saga that ranges from New York to Paris, Korea to Africa to portray how profoundly racial politics can shape life, especially in the private business of love.

'Warm, melancholy . . . Hall Montana's voice is the conduit for Baldwin's most distinctive quality as a writer, his abundant tenderness' The New York Times

About this title

Review:

The best of his work ... stands comparison with any of its period to come out of the United States (The Times)

This is the work of a born storyteller at the height of his powers (Edmund White Washington Post)

If Van Gogh was our 19th-century artist-saint, James Baldwin is our 20th-century one (Michael Ondaatje)

Baldwin is one of the few genuinely indispensable American writers

(Saturday Review)

Synopsis:

James Baldwin first wrote about homosexuality in his famous early novel, "Giovanni's Room". Here, he brings homosexuality and race together in the story of the great gospel singer Arthur Montana. Arthur was found dead in the basement of a London pub at the age of thirty-nine, yet he lies on in this memoir. Written by Hall, his brother and manager, it is in part a subtle and moving study of the treacherous ebb and flow of memory. Set against a vividly drawn background of the civil rights movement of the sixties, "Just Above My Head" explores how Arthur discovers his love for Jimmy - 'with his smile like a lantern and a voice like Saturday nights' - and portrays how profoundly racial politics can shape the private business of love.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0140187995
• ISBN 13: 9780140187991
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 608