Word: lifeness
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Potter suffers nobly the swingers and narrow-minded women of the outrageous singles scene for several weeks, but his bachelor life is not to be. He sprints to call Marilyn, assuring her that he wants only companionship, not sex. They date. Potter reacts shyly to his first post-marital kiss but returns the next night to find Marilyn setting a candlelight dinner for herself. "It looks like something you read in a book about how to be single," he kids, then whispers, "I want to have sex with you." They mate...
...Harvard, Field devotes much of her time to athletics--but that's nothing new. She grew up with four active brothers and has spent most of her life following every kind of sport...
...Julia's fall from the ministry and subsequent exploitation by her father, Arthur's homosexual relationship with Julia's pianist brother Jimmy, and Arthur's mysterious death at the peak of his fame. The novel reads as if authored by Hall in an effort to understand his brother's life as an artist, in order to legitimize his need for art in a rapidly changing society. Though Baldwin halfheartedly attempts to detach himself from the character of Hall, it is clear Hall's observations about Arthur are really Baldwin's about himself as a writer and a black person...
...Civil Rights Movement, to Europe and Africa, through flirtings with Islam or drugs and finally to the mostly white professional world in which they begin to build their futures. All the characters seem bound to each other either by love, blood, or the church, reflecting a perception about black life that Baldwin began fleshing out several novels ago, but all must grapple with some personal demons before they can enjoy their love for one another...
Baldwin's handling of the gospel music motif, which he weaves throughout the novel to mark the changes in Arthur's life, also warrants some criticism: readers lacking any exposure to gospel music may find the references hard to follow. This is important, since Baldwin depends on the music to evoke an atmosphere rarely found outside black churches. Those who can't understand the gospel theme can ignore it; still, having worked to incorporate that bit of black culture, it is sad the author failed to make the device serve the readers who most need "clues...