| dc.description.abstract | Love is central to the writing of James Baldwin (1924-1987). However, the importance of the
notion of love in his novels has long been overlooked. In this thesis, the notion of love in
Baldwin’s Another Country (1962) is researched. First, the idea of love as a basis for social
change is researched; both Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as bell hooks have elaborated on this
topic. Baldwin, in his essay The Fire Next Time, has also emphasized the importance of love to
achieve a more equal society. Using close reading, it is clear that this idea of “love as the
practice of freedom” is present in Baldwin’s Another Country: the novel advocates a
transcendental love where people are seen as individuals, and not as belonging to the categories
where white, patriarchal, capitalist society has placed them. The characters in Another Country,
however, do not reach this transcendental love and therefore the personal relationships between
the characters are analyzed to understand how the novel suggests coming to a meaningful
relationship with the other. The novel shows the necessity of a profound self-love to make life
bearable; once this self-love is attained, a meaningful love with the other can develop. Another
Country thus shows the importance of a profound love in order to face the challenges –
concerning both social inequalities as well as the personal quest for meaning in one’s life – that
life imposes upon the characters. | |
