The English Faculty Library is currently dressed up in its most colourful finery. Each year, for both LGBT+ History Month (February) and Pride Month (June), various pride flags drape the halls of the library and I must say, they look wonderful. Whilst the EFL does not have a designated LGBT+ History Month display like some other libraries will this year, our current display (curated by yours truly) is particularly topical.

The title of the display is “TO BE DESTROYED:” The Legal History of Book Censorship in the UK and it is essentially a (mostly) complete timeline of the major events/publications that resulted in the creation of the 1959 Obscene Publications Act. As such, the display begins in 1476 (the introduction of the printing press to England); traverses past John Milton’s ‘Areopagitica’ of 1644; makes a stop in 1857 (the first Obscene Publications Act); picks up a little context in 1868 (Cockburn’s definition of the term ‘obscene’); strolls past the various obscenity trials of the twentieth century; and finally comes to its conclusion at the present day. It also considers the wider impact these various laws had and touches upon their international reach.

As shown in the display, the current piece of legislation (the 1959 Act) took huge steps in reforming previous laws aimed at curbing the publication, sale, and distribution of material deemed to be obscene and corruptive. In numerous instances, these historic laws resulted in the censorship of an array of queer literature; most famously, Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness (1928).

But let us first get into the crux of what is meant by the term ‘obscene’. The Act’s predecessor was that of 1857, enacted at a time when the political elite became concerned about the rise in literacy rates – especially amongst the working classes. As such, Lord Campbell penned his Obscene Publications Act which made the distribution of ‘obscene’ materials a statutory offence. It also gave police the authority to search for, seize, and destroy these documents. One thing Lord Campbell did not do, however, was define the term ‘obscene’.

Understandably, confusion arose surrounding the vagueness and looseness of his terminology, so, in 1868, during the case R v Hicklin, the Lord Chancellor Alexander Cockburn provided his famed definition of the term (see below). It was this definition which “dominated obscenity law ever since” (Crawley 66) and provided the legal foundations to the cases of some of the most famous works of literature. It is important to note too that, in this case, it was ruled that extracts of a book should be judged independently of the text as a whole. In other words, if any isolated material was obscene, then the whole book would be judged as so.

“I think the test of obscenity is this, whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave or corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences, and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall.” (‘Regina v. Hicklin’)

So, this was Cockburn’s definition…still fairly vague right? It was, however, these words which ultimately led to Hall’s novel being outlawed – sixty years after they had been spoken. The text’s main ‘offence’ was its portrayal of a lesbian relationship; however, it is famously tame and free of any explicit material. Additionally, lesbianism was not outlawed at the time so the reason for censorship fell upon Lord Cockburn’s interpretation of the word ‘obscenity’. To the judge, Sir Chartres Biron, the novel did indeed have the tendency to ‘deprave or corrupt’ because it looked upon the protagonist and their sexuality with sympathy. Therefore, the novel was ordered to be destroyed and was banned until 1949 – after Radclyffe Hall’s death.

Yet in the spirit of this year’s LGBT+ History Month theme, Activism and Social Change, Radclyffe Hall’s case was a landmark one in showcasing the frustration of censorship laws of the time and the need for change. Wan writes that “Norman Birkett, the defence lawyer, had assembled a formidable group of witnesses, including E.M. Forster, Desmond McCarthy (the editor of Life and Letters), Leonard and Virginia Woolf, [and] Vita Sackville-West” (150) to defend the novel and oppose censorship. Most of these figures were queer creatives, and all were members of The Bloomsbury Group – an influential artistic social circle of the early twentieth century.

Unfortunately, their desire for change was not met this time, however, due to the vast amount of publicity which the case attracted, Hall’s status as a lesbian icon was firmly cemented. In many ways, Hall’s trial also led to wider exposure to this so-called ‘obscene’ material, thus, having the opposite of the intended effect. Alterations to the Obscene Publications Act finally came about in 1959 after a few years of legal back and forth on the matter. This included a new test for obscenity in which the whole of the text and its literary merit should be considered before receiving its judgement. In 1960, this amendment would be tested in the case R v Penguin Books Ltd – the infamous trial of D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover which you can read more about in the display!

*It is important to note that, whilst Radclyffe Hall can indeed be viewed as a courageous advocate for social change, her personal politics can divide opinion. To understand more about her life, I would recommend listening to the Bad Gays podcast featuring Jana Funke, Professor of Modern Literature and Sexuality Studies at Exeter University. The link to the episode can be found below!*

https://badgayspod.com/episode-archive/cw21b2uyw6oqmv41l1encmqi0y0mqe

Works Cited

Crawley, Karen. “’The Chastity of our Records’: Reading and Judging Obscenity in Nineteenth-Century Courts.” Censorship and the Limits of the Literary: A Global View., edited by Nicole Moore, New York; London, Bloomsbury, 2015, pp. 65-77.

‘Regina v. Hicklin’ (1868), Law Reports 3: Queen’s Bench Division, 1867-68, p.371, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112103768471&seq=443&q1=obscenity.

Wan, M. (2016). The Well of Loneliness trials: lesbianism and the return of the repressed. Masculinity and the Trials of Modern Fiction (pp. 138-170). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315544083-11

Michaelmas term has officially come to a close and things have certainly slowed down at the EFL. One thing which does remain busy, however, is our processing table – we’ve had some very exciting new titles make their way into the library recently! So, if you’ve made plans to cosy up with a book over the next few weeks, or, are hoping to hit your 2024 reading goal but are unsure on what to finish the year off with, then maybe this curated list of some of our hottest Michaelmas acquisitions will give you some ideas.

For future reference, if you ever want to keep an eye on what’s making its way into the library but can’t quite make it in, then check out LibraryThing to stay in the loop. We also have our New Books Display (frequently updated by yours truly) which is where most of our recent additions end up. Anyway, let’s get onto the books.

Fiction

Look at all of these beautiful covers! Here’s a little about each one:

• James / Percival Everett – A reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of Huck’s companion, Jim. Shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, Everett’s novel contemplates identity, belonging, and oppression.
• The Hotel / Daisy Johnson – A collection of short horror stories set in a hotel on the Fens. Built upon cursed ground, the hotel becomes that liminal space where things are not quite as they seem…
• The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho / Paterson Joseph – An historical fiction novel based upon the real life of Charles Ignatius Sancho. Understood to be one of Britain’s first Black voters, Sancho was a writer, composer, and abolitionist in the 18th century.
• The Safe Keep / Yael van der Wouden – Another 2024 Booker Prize shortlist title, The Safe Keep follows Isabel’s comfortable and structured life in post-WWII Netherlands. However, Isabel’s routine is suddenly overturned by the arrival of her brother’s girlfriend Eva: the catalyst for the ensuing tale of desire, fury, and discovery.
• The Mighty Red / Louise Erdrich – Set in a small farming community in North Dakota, environmental concerns are the bedrock of Erdrich’s novel. The central plot  revolves around those embroiled in an ill-fated wedding, all dealing with the difficulties of rural life amidst the 2008 financial crisis.
• Long Island / Colm Tóibín – This novel is a follow-up to Tóibín’s bestseller Brooklyn in which Eilis Lacey immigrates from Ireland to New York City in the 1950s. Having now been married for twenty years, Eilis suddenly meets a stranger who throws her whole existence into question.

Poetry

We’ve had some absolutely stunning poetry titles arrive at the EFL this term – here’s just a snapshot:

• Mother of Flip-Flops / Mukahang Limbu – An upcoming Oxford-based poet (and alumnus!) who writes about queerness, boyhood and the immigrant experience amongst other topics. This is his debut publication.
• With My Back to the World / Victoria Chang – This poetry collection is a literary conversation with American artist Agnes Martin. Using her abstract artwork as the stimulus for her own meditations on grief, identity, feminism and depression, Chang’s poetry is deeply affecting.
• Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology / edited by Rigoberto González – a wonderful collection of over 180 poets from the 17th century to present day. Those poems written in Spanish are displayed in their original language alongside an English translation.
• Manorism / Yomi Ṣode – An analysis of the lives of Black British men and boys, this debut collection traverses through topics of identity, family, generational trauma, and masculinity.
• The Keelie Hawk: Poems in Scots / Kathleen Jamie – The previous Scottish Makar (national poet), Jamie’s collection reflects on various aspects of nature and the human experience. Each poem is also accompanied with an English translation.
• Signs, Music / Raymond Antrobus – A tender exploration into preparing for and experiencing fatherhood for the first time. Antrobus writes about love, legacy, the deaf experience and masculinity in this moving collection.

Non-fiction

If non-fiction titles are more your style, then perhaps one of these will take your fancy:

• The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective / Sara Lodge – This text uncovers the forgotten lives of the real female detectives at work in Victorian Britain. It also examines their role and portrayal in Victorian drama and fiction and how this compares to their lived experiences.
• Salvage: Readings from the Wreck / Dionne Brand – This text is the first non-fiction title from Brand since her brilliant A Map to the Door of No Return (also at the EFL!). In Salvage, Brand returns to the classic novel to explore traces of colonialism and the legacies of empire more widely in literature between the 17th and 19th centuries.
• The Position of Spoons: and Other Intimacies / Deborah Levy – This book is an intimate invitation to the thoughts and inspirations behind Levy’s writing process.
• Young Bloomsbury: The Transgressive Generation that Reimagined Love, Freedom and Self-Expression / Nino Strachey – A detailed look into the colourful lives of those in the Bloomsbury Group, written by a descendent of core member Lytton Strachey.
• The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary / Sarah Ogilvie – This one’s for the word-lovers! Ogilvie’s book tells the story of the hugely diverse group of people who contributed to the creation of one of the world’s most famous texts.
• Hardy Women: Mother, Sisters, Wives, Muses / Paula Byrne – Byrne’s book is both an examination of the fictional women that Hardy wrote and an exploration into the real women that shaped his life, imagination, and his work.

This concludes our new books post for Michaelmas 2024; I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about some of the wonderful titles we’ve acquired over the last few months! As mentioned, this is just a few of the many we have added to our shelves here at the EFL, so do have a look at LibraryThing for the complete list of our new books if you’d like to.

Wishing you a restful winter vacation – happy reading!

The Subtleties of Snow: Eight Literary Depictions

Although we are technically still in Autumn, the days of long evening shadows and crisp, brown leaves underfoot seem well behind us now. The sun sets at 4pm, and bitter winds have finally begun to blow down Oxford’s narrow streets signifying an imminent close to the 2024 Michaelmas Term. We’ve even had our first flurry of snow – the very subject of our new display at the English Faculty Library.

The display queries the way in which snow has impacted characters in literature, or, acted as potential inspiration for authors. Furthermore, it highlights some of the many ways which writers have used snow to develop specific narratives and/or to allude to wider social issues. This blog post will detail the eight texts used in the display and discuss how snow has more of an impact on them than it may initially seem.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous / Ocean Vuong (2019)

Whilst snow is not a central motif in Vuong’s memoir, his depiction of it is still noteworthy. Towards the opening of the text, our protagonist, Little Dog, is asked by his grandmother, Lan, to pluck out her grey hairs. Having been deeply affected by the horrors of the Vietnam War in her youth, Lan struggles with PTSD, and Vuong suggests that this trauma has imbued itself into her physical being; it has become the grey hairs on her head. Lan says, “Help me, Little Dog. […] Help me stay young, get this snow off of my life – get it all off my life” (Vuong 23).

As Little Dog extracts her hair, Lan extracts vivid memories and stories from the war, almost as though the action of removal consequently produces these images of the past. Vuong writes that “the room filled with our voices as the snow fell from her head, the hardwood around my knees whitening as the past unfolded around us” (23). Here, snow acts as a route into the past, becoming the vessel in which Vuong can highlight how physically attached those memories are to Lan. But why does Lan call these grey hairs “snow” in the first place? And, to what extent can we think of snow as invoking the past more widely? Questions to ponder over…

“As I plucked, the blank walls around us did not so much fill with fantastical landscapes as open into them, the plaster disintegrating to reveal the past behind it.” (22)

– This item can be requested from the Collections Storage Facility (CSF)!

Dubliners / James Joyce (1914)

One of the most famous depictions of snow in literature comes from James Joyce’s short story “The Dead,” featured in Dubliners. A tale about hopelessness and mediocrity, it follows Gabriel Conroy who attends a Christmas party with his wife, Gretta. As they are about to leave, Gabriel notices his wife deeply entranced by a song she hears. It transpires that she was moved by the memory of Michael Furey, a young lover of hers who had died from trying to visit her in the rain whilst ill. This sends Gabriel into a spiral of contemplation, causing him to realise how he had never been able to love so passionately.

Having to compete with the dead provokes a sense of meaninglessness and fragility within Gabriel, one that is exacerbated by the wintry weather outside. Saint-Amour writes that “the final paragraph of “The Dead” describes the loss of distinctions—the blurring of localities by a universalizing snowfall, the merging of “all” the living and the dead” (108), illustrating how the snow acts as a reminder of finality and mortality; it is the ultimate end to all. Like for Vuong then, snow in “The Dead” is the gateway between past and present, but here, it is also the gateway between the world of the living and the dead, with Joyce using it as a warning to all of what is to come.

“Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.” (Joyce 176)

“It sifts from Leaden Sieves –” / Emily Dickinson (1862)

– Emily Dickinson’s Poems: As She Preserved Them

Snow appears in Dickinson’s poetry almost sixty times (Folsom 362). This poem is one of her most famous allusions to it and highlights the endless nature of a cold winter. Dickinson does this predominantly through the poem’s structure. Written in uninterrupted quatrains, these provide a sense of permanency, as though the snow that falls ubiquitously is ceaseless. This is furthered by the excessive use of dashes and caesuras throughout – the snow continues to cover everything. As Folsom notes, “Dickinson portrays no human life; the scene is relentlessly one of desolation; snow is no place to frolic in Dickinson’s world” (370). So, snow becomes representative of death and isolation; it is, like for Joyce, that metamorphic substance which turns the land of the living into the land of the dead.

“It Ruffles Wrists of Posts

As Ankles of a Queen –

Then stills it’s Artisans – like Ghosts –

Denying they have been -” (Dickinson ll. 17-20)

See the full poem on the Poetry Foundation website below:

“It sifts from Leaden Sieves –” / Emily Dickinson

A Christmas Carol / Charles Dickens (1843)

Snow is simply a feature of winter in this one, but it’s fair to say that the display would feel incomplete without Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge is our protagonist, a man who famously despises Christmas but undergoes a great transformation throughout the text. One of the ways in which Dickens portrays this is through his depiction of the weather. In the opening, he writes that, “external heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. […] No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose […]. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him” (Dickens 8). In other words, his indifference to the weather reflects his own sense of superiority, as well as his withdrawal from society more widely. It also resembles his cold-heartedness – a classic example of pathetic fallacy!

Over the course of the novella, as each spirit visits Scrooge, he learns that he must change his miserly ways. Upon waking up on Christmas morning, after a night of tough realisations, Scrooge notes that there is “no fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious. Glorious!” (134). So, as Scrooge changes, so does the weather; his reaction to it symbolic of a new beginning.

“‘I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!’ Scrooge repeated” (132)

Snow Country / Yasunari Kawabata (1956)

Snow Country is a jewel in the literary crown of Japanese fiction. First published in 1956, it was one of the texts cited by the Nobel Committee when awarding Kawabata the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968. The novel follows Shimamura’s retreat to an onsen town in Niigata where he reignites a romantic relationship with a geisha named Komako. Kawabata writes Shimamura’s entry to the rural snowy landscape as though it were an entry to a new world altogether. The opening line reads: “the train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country” (Kawabata  3), thus, beginning his novel with a shift into a dazzling yet unforgiving new terrain. The snow is immediately a transformative force.

But in Kawabata’s novel, the snow is not simply part of a landscape, it is part of a tradition. Towards the text’s climax, Shimamura wanders around various remote villages in the area. He is trying to find Chijimi – a type of material used for making clothes which has historically been bleached in the snow. Kawabata writes: “there is Chijimi linen because there is snow […]. Snow is the mother of Chijimi” (104). Known for being remarkably durable, the thought of Chijimi makes Shimamura compare its strength to his fading admiration for Komako, realising that he must end things with her. Snow then becomes a symbol of creation, endurance, and change in the novel – a force which even love cannot compete with.

“The thread was spun in the snow, and the cloth woven in the snow, washed in the snow, and bleached in the snow. Everything, from the first spinning of the thread to the last finishing touches, was done in the snow.” (Kawabata 104)

– This item can be requested from the Collections Storage Facility (CSF)!

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” / Robert Frost (1923)

– Complete Poems of Robert Frost

Whilst not indicative of death like in Dickinson’s poem, snow in Frost’s poem certainly brings about questions of mortality. Arguably his most famous work, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” depicts the speaker stopping mid-journey to watch snow fall peacefully upon some woods, then eventually continuing with their trip. A poem of stasis and of quiet, it has endless analytical possibilities and garners just as many questions. Why does the speaker stop? What entices the speaker about the forest? Where is the speaker heading? These are just a few of those questions.

Whilst these are all up to interpretation, it is evident that the snow adds to a sense of mystery and curiosity throughout. Without it, perhaps the speaker would not have even stopped. So, what it is about the snow then? If it does symbolise death as in some of the other works in this display, then is the speaker contemplating death? If they are, is that what the final repeated lines are referring to? Or do we need to build upon the (almost) silence of the poem to suggest that the speaker just wanted to take a break from a tiring journey? Perhaps listening to “the sweep of easy wind and downy flake” (ll. 11-12) allowed them that peace. Either way, the snow here plays a critical role, so have another read through and see what answers you can come up with.

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.” (Frost ll. 13-16)

See the full poem on the Poetry Foundation website below:

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” / Robert Frost

Native Son / Richard Wright (1940)

Richard Wright predominantly wrote about the social injustices and discrimination that Black people experienced in America in the early twentieth century. His novel Native Son is set in a poor area of Chicago’s South Side in which his protagonist, Bigger Thomas, lives with his family. Bigger’s life takes a tragic turn when he accidentally kills a White woman, and the plot which consequently unfolds reveals the racial prejudices that were prevalent at the time.

Wright alludes to nature extensively in the text, but his depiction of snow is particularly important. After Bigger’s gruesome attempt to cover his actions are discovered, he flees into a blizzard. He writes:

“Then he leaped, headlong, sensing his body twisting in the icy air as he hurtled. […] He was in the air a moment; then he hit. It seemed at first that he hit softly, but the shock of it went through him, up his back to his head and he lay buried in a cold pile of snow, dazed. Snow was in his mouth, eyes, ears; snow was seeping down his back” (Wright 651).

Montgomery suggests that “the snow is emblematic of the cold white world which opposes Bigger’s quest for selfhood” (460), illustrating how Wright utilises the weather to highlight the oppressive forces working against Bigger. This is further realised when Bigger is eventually captured in the snow by the Chicago Police. For Wright then, snow is a tool to expose wider social issues – a tool which Wright additionally employs in some of the many haikus that he wrote towards the end of his life.

Emma / Jane Austen (1815)

As in the modern day, snow also made headlines in Georgian England. Most notably in the winter of 1813/14, when London was so cold that the Thames froze over and paved an icy path for the city’s final Frost Fair. Heavy snow was also widely reported across the country, with various accidents occurring as a result. It was after this infamous winter that Jane Austen began writing Emma (Introduction xxi)…

In Chapter 15, set at the Weston’s home during a Christmas Eve dinner, Mr John Knightley declares that it has begun to snow. In a frenzy of concern about how they shall safely return home in less than half an inch of snow, the party attendants scramble into different carriages. This suddenly leaves Emma Woodhouse, our matchmaking protagonist, alone with the (rather tipsy) Mr Elton – the vicar.

Consequently, Mr Elton makes a rather abrupt marriage proposal to Emma, “declaring sentiments which must be already well known, hoping – fearing – adoring – ready to die if she refused him” (Austen 101). Sadly, for Mr Elton, she does indeed refuse him, but this moment in a frosty carriage highlights Elton’s intention to marry for money; he marries another wealthy woman shortly after this rejection.

It is interesting to observe here how Austen uses the weather as a chance to deepen character complexities and develop the narrative. Bartlett writes that “the snow in Emma is one of those events which provides everyone present with the opportunity to act intensely in character” (152), suggesting that, for Elton, his character is, in fact, one motivated by money and social status; a character which, arguably, only the warmth of “Mr Weston’s good wine” (101) and the cold of the snow could oust from his façade.

“The snow was no where above half an inch deep – in many places hardly enough to whiten the ground; a very few flakes were falling at present, but the clouds were parting, and there was every appearance of its being soon over.” (100)

Honourable Mentions:

• Winter / Ali Smith
• “The Snow Fairy” / Claude McKay
• I’m Thinking of Ending Things / Iain Reid
• The Ice Palace / Tarjei Vesaas
• Little Women / Louisa May Alcott

Bibliography

Austen, Jane. Emma. Oxford, Oxford UP, 2022.

Bartlett, Nora. Jane Austen : Reflections of a Reader, edited by Jane Stabler, Open Book Publishers, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/oxford/detail.action?docID=6475844.

Cowley, Katherine. “The Justified Fear of Snow in Jane Austen’s ‘Emma.’” Jane Austen’s World, 20 Feb. 2022, janeaustensworld.com/2022/02/20/the-justified-fear-of-snow-in-jane-austens-emma/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2024.

Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol: a facsimile of the manuscript in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York, James H. Heineman, Inc, 1967.

Dickinson, Emily. “It sifts from Leaden Sieves -.” Emily Dickinson’s Poems: As She Preserved Them, edited by Cristanne Miller, Harvard UP, 2016, p. 248.

Folsom, L. Edwin. “”The Souls That Snow”: Winter in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson.” American Literature, vol. 47, no. 3, 1975, pp. 361-376.

Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Complete Poems of Robert Frost, Jonathan Cape, 1951, p. 250.

“Introduction.” Austen, Jane. Emma. Edited by Richard Cronin and Dorothy McMillan, Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2005, pp. xxi–lxxiv.

Joyce, James. Dubliners. Oxford, Oxford UP, 2008

Kawabata, Yasunari. Snow Country. London, Penguin Books, 2011.

Montgomery, Maxine L. “Racial Armageddon: The Image of Apocalypse in Richard Wright’s “Native Son”.” CLA Journal, vol. 34, no. 4, 1991, pp. 453-466.

Saint-Amour, Paul K. “”Christmas Yet To Come”: Hospitality, Futurity, the Carol, and “The Dead”.” Representations, vol. 98, no. 1, 2007, pp. 93-117.

Vuong, Ocean. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. London, Vintage, 2020.

Wright, Richard. “Native Son.” Richard Wright Early Works: Lawd Today!, Uncle Tom’s Children, Native Son, New York, The Library of America, 1991, pp. 443-851.

The 2nd August 2024 marks 100 years since the birth of James Baldwin: American writer and civil rights activist. In honour of the occasion, the English Faculty Library created a book display exploring his literary works. While the physical display in the library highlights his work within the English Faculty Library’s physical collections, we also want to showcase just a few of the many online resources related to this celebrated writer – both within the Bodleian Libraries and beyond.

Journal: James Baldwin Review

James Baldwin Review is a peer-reviewed, open access journal that publishes both critical and creative non-fiction on the life, writing, and legacy of James Baldwin. It began in 2015 and has been published annually since then. While some physical copies can be called up for consultation from the Bodleian’s storage facility, the entire journal is available online for free (and not just to university members – thank you, open access!). Follow the links on our SOLO record to peruse the contents at your leisure.

Digital Public Library of America: The Fire Next Time

A primary source set has been compiled by Samantha Gibson for the Digital Public Library of America which explores Baldwin’s Harlem upbringing and the context for the creation of The Fire Next Time (this book is featured in our physical display – if you fancy a peek!). This source set contains photographs, documents, and video recordings on life in Harlem, activism, and Baldwin himself. You can check out the full set on the DPLA website.

Chez Baldwin

This online exhibition was curated by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Chez Baldwin is, in its own words: “An Exploration of James Baldwin’s Life and Works Through the Powerful Lens of His House “Chez Baldwin” in St. Paul de Vence, France.” It contains stories of his locales, his activism, and his writing, as well as stories surrounding particular exhibition pieces (such as his passport, his inkwell, or his World Council of Churches guest badge). The exhibition also links through to a great list of James Baldwin Digital Resources – which helped us find the FBI Records kept on James Baldwin.

James Baldwin Photographs and Papers

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University holds a collection of James Baldwin Photographs and Papers. The documents within the archive were created by Baldwin, but believed to be either discarded or forgotten – and rumoured to have been left behind after a publishing company moved out of their building. Some of these materials have been digitised and made available online, including early drafts of Go Tell it on the Mountain (the published version of which features in our physical display!) and some correspondence.

Archives of Sexuality and Gender

The Archives of Sexuality and Gender, hosted by Gale and accessible through the Bodleian Libraries, contain a lot of newspaper and periodical articles relating to James Baldwin. The coverage is quite broad, from obituaries, to reporting on talks Baldwin gave, to book reviews that celebrate his influence on  queer audiences. It’s a fascinating opportunity to look at the impact and reception of his work within the queer commmunity.

Ebooks at the Bodleian Libraries

Below are listed just a small smattering of the ebooks we have available through the Bodleian Libraries, exploring the life and works of James Baldwin.