美国国家公共电台 NPR Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Receives James Baldwin Letters

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Literary icon¹ and social critic James Baldwin has inspired generations of writers since his death in 1987. But who inspired him? The answer to that question may be found in a new archive of the author's writings acquired by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at The New York Public Library. The collection includes correspondence from Nina Simone, a handwritten screenplay about Malcolm X and notes on his first novel, "Go Tell It On The Mountain." I spoke² with the director of the Schomburg Center, Kevin Young. I asked him to name one item that was special to him.

KEVIN YOUNG: I mean, there are so many, but perhaps the most powerful thing that's in the exhibition we're showing for a few days here is his notes on Martin Luther King. And he wrote them 10 years after King's death. And it's just a really powerful, intimate moment where you get to see Baldwin in reflection but also Baldwin in the kinds of experiences that he would later then go on to try to dramatize in what became the recent film "I'm Not Your Negro." So you really see the process of Baldwin's writing, his civil rights engagement, his interest in the word and then also the ways in which he was transforming his work.

CORNISH: As you mentioned, there are a handful of documents on public display, but there are many restrictions⁴ on who will get to see the archive, mostly researchers and scholars. What do you think they can learn there that isn't already known about Baldwin?

YOUNG: Well, there's about 30 linear feet of material, and only about less than a foot is restricted. So it's really a wide ranging array. You get to know his writing process up close, get to see the ways he goes from notes to novel. And also I think you get to see the wide breadth of his writing. You get to see everything from plays to screenplays to novels to nonfiction. Everything is there in many different forms, and I think that's really special.

CORNISH: You're very familiar with the process of archives and working with artists and estates' families. And I understand that the letters between Baldwin and his closest friends are under, like, a 20-year seal. How common is that kind of restriction³ for this level of archive?

YOUNG: I don't think it's uncommon⁵. Material sometimes is kept private, and as long as we know when that ends, I think that's fine. Part of the archive always is discovery, and we're excited for other people to discover in the archive what's there.

CORNISH: You know, you mentioned the Oscar-nominated documentary "I Am Not Your Negro," and you have young writers today speaking about the influence of Baldwin, and it feels like he's having a cultural moment. Why do you think that is?

YOUNG: I think because his writing is as relevant as ever. He seems both prophetic and also ever present. For me, who discovered him - I don't know - in my early 20s I think, he was really that and more. You know, he is also just a prose stylist. No one, I think, can write the way he does, and no one can hold our attention the way that he can, both on the page and you can see in that film. And I hope when we get the audio that we we're processing now, you can really tell his dramatic influence.

CORNISH: Kevin Young is director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Thank you so much for speaking with us.

YOUNG: Thank you.

1 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 restriction   

n.限制，约束

参考例句：

• The park is open to the public without restriction.这个公园对公众开放，没有任何限制。
• The 30 mph speed restriction applies in all built-up areas.每小时限速30英里适用于所有建筑物聚集区。

4 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

5 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。