Another Country

Interesting perspective of Mid 20th Century New York from one of the most legendary black writers of all time. I’d recommend it, together with some of his other classics.

The Writer James Baldwin’s novel Another Country is set among people who have artistic careers in New York City in the early 1960s. The novel starts with the story of a Black American man named Rufus Scott. Rufus is a wash-up jazz musician, who was in an abusive relationship with a White American named Lonera. Lonera is from the state of Georgia, and she ends up in a mental institution in Georgia after their relationship is finished. Most of the characters of Another Country had some relationship with Rufus. Rufus’s younger sister named Ida Scott is a character in Another Country. Ida is a wannabe jazz singer. Most of the other characters are former friends or former lovers of Rufus. Lonera, herself, is not really a character in the novel. The reader does not see the story from her point of view. A large portion of the novel is about the sexual relationships between the various characters. If the reader chooses to read Another Country in a biographical sense, one can maybe get a sense of why Baldwin chose to live parts of life in France (Donadio 2017). A character named Eric Jones, who is a White American, lives in France at the beginning of the novel. Eric is a former lover of Rufus. James Balwin is a skilled writer. Baldwin’s novel, Another Country is a well-done and thoughtful novel. Work Cited: Donadio, Rachel. 2017, April 4.” Battling to Save James Baldwin’s Home in the South of France.” New York Times. Battling to Save James Baldwin’s Home in the South of France - The New York Times (nytimes.com)