T Book Club: A Discussion on James Baldwin's "Go Tell It on the Mountain"

For more on James Baldwin and other literary classics, go to Tmagazine.com.

[@palebluedotn7147]

An important aspect of the dirt theme to me, was the description of John being saved on the threshing floor. He is surrounded by dust, dust that he had just swept away, but that the singing and dancing and jouyous stomping had kicked it up all around him. He breaths in the dirt, now called dust, and to me that is him commiting to a kind of radical self formation, and self knowledge. The dust is his nature, everyones nature, and he learns to love and accept it on the threshing floor in a way that his father could never face. He breaths in the dust, and it hurts, but it leads to a revelation. It leads to him beginning to walk down a path of self discovery. His father wanted to wish the dirt away, thought he could, but it would never work, because his father could never face who he truly was, and therefore could never truly change. What a book.

[@naomismartt4599]

Ayana's passionate talk reminds us of Baldwin's understated recognition as a literary giant!

[@belenlim6108]

I love this talk. I relate so much to the story.

[@trevorjones7604]

Thank you for this brilliant talk!

[@belenlim6108]

I love this talk. I relate so much to the story.

[@voneschenbachmusic]

Thank you for sharing this - just finished the novel and really appreciated Ayana's passion for Baldwin's writing; Go Tell It is definitely one of the best works of literature I have ever read.

[@tigerregal5151]

Great questions and answers! Thank you for posting. I feel better prepared for Wake county book club mtg on 10/27☺️

[@bstatchen]

Missed this live but read/listened to the book this week and wanted to learn more about it. This discussion was a perfect addition to the read and I really appreciated it. Thank you.