Exclusão e ritos de afeto em Se a rua Beale falasse, de James Baldwin

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Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61389/revell.v2i32.7170

Keywords:

Afro-American literature; James Baldwin; Representation; Social exclusion.

Abstract

This article offers an analysis on the novel If Beale Street Could Talk (2019), by James Baldwin, centered on the scenes of exclusion and on the rites of affection. The characters suffer various kinds of exclusion related mainly to American structural racism. The unfair accusation and imprisonment of one of the characters prompt the narrator self-recognition as subject of social exclusion as well as increases the conflicts between two poor families from Harlem, in the 1970s. Despite the violence and the incarceration of blacks, seen in the novel as a sort of death sentence, the narrative is full of rites of affection, in which fellowship and life are celebrated. We interpret those rites by means of Baldwin’s view on the representation of black experience in some of his essays. Before that, we briefly discuss Afro-American literature based on Gates (2001, 2003) and Morrison (2020).

Author Biography

Jose Ailson Lemos de Souza, Universidade Estadual do Maranhão

Doutor em Literatura e Cultura pela Universidade Federal da Bahia – Brasil. Professor Assistente da Universidade Estadual do Maranhão – Brasil. ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8923-9258. E-mail: ailsonlsj@gmail.com.

References

BALDWIN, James. Notas de um filho nativo. Trad. Paulo Henriques Britto. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2020.

BALDWIN, James. Se a rua Beale falasse. Trad. Jorio Dauster. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2019.

BOSI, Alfredo. Literatura e resistência. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2002.

GATES, Henry Louis Jr. Talking Black: Critical Signs of the Times. In: LEITCH, Vincent B. [ed. et. al]. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001.

GATES, Henry Louis Jr. Phillis Wheatley on Trial. The New Yorker, January 20, 2003, p. 82-87.

MACEDO, Márcio. A prisão na forma de blues. In: BALDWIN, James. Se a rua Beale falasse. Trad. Jorio Dauster. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2019.

MORRISON, Toni. A fonte da autoestima: Ensaios, discursos e reflexões. Trad. Odorico Leal. 1ª ed. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2020.

MULLEN, Bill V. James Baldwin: Living in Fire. London: Pluto Press, 2019.

RAMPERSAD, Arnold. Introduction. In: WRIGHT, Richard. Native Son. New York: HarperCollins e-books, 2009.

SMITH, Caleb. The Prison and the American Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.

Published

2022-12-14

How to Cite

LEMOS DE SOUZA, Jose Ailson. Exclusão e ritos de afeto em Se a rua Beale falasse, de James Baldwin . REVELL - UEMS JOURNAL OF LITERARY STUDIES, [S. l.], v. 2, n. 32, p. 340–359, 2022. DOI: 10.61389/revell.v2i32.7170. Disponível em: https://periodicosonline.uems.br/index.php/REV/article/view/7170. Acesso em: 22 jul. 2024.