James Baldwin, Go Tell It On the Mountain

Magdalena J. Zaborowska (University of Michigan)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.5: African American Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Philathia Bolton (University of Akron), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1953

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) was James Baldwin’s first novel, which he claimed he “had to write” to come to terms with both his origins in the poverty-stricken Harlem of uptown tenements and store-front churches, and his fraught relationship with his repressive laborer/preacher stepfather. Among the novel’s working titles were “Crying Holly” and “In My Father’s House”, the latter of which reflected the literal and metaphorical confines of family, church, and neighborhood that frame the protagonist John Grimes’ coming-of-age story. In its early stages, Richard Wright received the manuscript positively and recommended Baldwin for a Saxton Fellowship at Harper’s in 1945. The stipend helped Baldwin to …

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1675 words

Citation: Zaborowska, Magdalena J.. "Go Tell It On the Mountain". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 April 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4950, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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