Another country

James Baldwin, 1924-1987

Book - 1993

Set in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and France, among other locales, Another Country is a novel of passions -- sexual, racial, political, artistic -- that is stunning for its emotional intensity and haunting sensuality, depicting men and women, blacks and whites, stripped of their masks of gender and race by love and hatred at the most elemental and sublime. In a small set of friends, Baldwin imbues the best and worst intentions of liberal America in the early 1970s. Jazz drummer Rufus Scott begins a relationship with Leona, a white woman from the South. He introduces her to his social circle: struggling novelist Vivaldo; his successful mentor Richard, and Richard's wife Cass. Rufus becomes physically abusive of Leona; when she is admitt...ed to a mental hospital, Rufus returns to Harlem and commits suicide. Vivaldo begins a relationship with Rufus' sister Ida, which is strained by racial tension and Ida's bitterness after her brother's death. Eric, Rufus's first male lover, returns to New York after living in France where he met his longtime lover Yves. Ida starts having an affair with Ellis, an advertising executive who promises to help with her career as a singer. Cass has an affair with Eric after he arrives in New York. -- adapted from online synopsis. more