l's Reviews > Another Country

Something about Baldwin's writing doesn't quite work for me and I wasn't sure what it was until I read this book; it's the centrality of male pain. Despite what Ida goes through, it's Rufus' death that is privileged, Rufus' hardship that shapes how Ida views her life, more than her own experiences. It's Rufus' death that is the crux of Baldwin's condemnation of America. The only character who dislikes Rufus for beating up his white southern girlfriend is Richard, the least sympathetic, least fleshed out character in the book. Ida is actually Rufus' chief hagiographer - calling the girlfriend a crazy cracker/bitch who ruined a great man. In an interview with Audre Lorde, Baldwin draws a distinction between 'responsibility' and 'fault' - a black man in America who commits an offense is responsible but not at fault. I don't agree with his use of those words, but I understand his point. So does Audre Lorde - she agrees with most of what Baldwin is saying but attempts to make him recognize that black men have a place in the power hierarchy as well - specifically in the oppression of black women. Given the harassment that Ida receives from black men for dating white men, you would think this would not be a point of contention among them, but Baldwin just doesn't get it. He speaks over Lorde, saying: "How can you be so sentimental as to blame the Black man for a situation which has nothing to do with him?" He also says that the 'only' crime in America is to be born a black male - "It's not like being a woman." OIC. I'm underwhelmed by this, but I'm glad that I was picking up on something that was actually there.