This article explores James Baldwin’s engagement with the generic possibilities of the essay. Theodore W. Adorno’s theorization of the essay is utilized to examine how Baldwin exploits the formal possibilities offered by the genre. In “Autobiographical Notes,” Baldwin wrests space for reflection and analysis by maximizing the essay’s antisystemic impulse. The essay as form provides Baldwin with the method necessary to counter the objectifying force of race. Baldwin furthermore merges the essay with the African American aesthetic of the cut. It is this aesthetic tradition that sensitizes Baldwin to the tension between notes and gaps, articulation and implication. This can be most clearly observed in the Paris essays. Each essay is written from a different identity position, but instead of resolving the tension created by the four essays, Baldwin demands that the readers hold multiple elements in mind. An investigation of Baldwin’s art reveals him to be a true master of the essay form, an inheritor and an innovator of the genre.
Introduction
The Space between the Notes
Conclusion
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