Another Country, By James Baldwin

Kasiem Noble

As Michel de Certeau explains, a place is geometric, it is physical, "space is practiced place.” People give the true definition of a place through their experiences, a “street geometrically defined by urban planning is transformed into a space by walkers.”(de Certeau 117) Authors allow their characters to define the spaces they exist in through their narratives. James Baldwin for example, uses his characters to transform New York City into a place of queer possibility, or lack thereof, as he saw it. Some characters viewed the city as a place to escape from family prejudice. Some saw the city as the very cage that prevented social freedom. Nelson Sullivan’s video work is another example of the power narrative has to convert space

Queer geography is created from the lives and experiences of these queer individuals. In Another Country, James Baldwin evokes queer geography by allowing us a look into the queer lives of his characters. Baldwin’s focalization allows a deeper look into the perspectives of his characters, and in turn a deeper look into his mind as a black queer author. Changing the city for us as readers into the same landscape of possibilities he and his characters live in. Baldwin’s fictional New York gives us insight on the very non fictional experiences of the city. City blocks are just physical areas, but it is narrative that gives validity to the true uses of a place. In the case of Baldwin every city block is a place of racial violence, sexual exploration, or the otherwise

While Rufus’ relationship with queerness was one of necessity, Vivaldo’s relationship with queerness like many started with self hate and abuse. For Vivaldo queerness, at least at first, is metamorphosed into a space of sexual exploration through abuse. This is clear in the section he recalls one of his first interactions with queerness. “ We made him go down on all of us and then we beat the piss out of him.”(Baldwin 112) Self loathing created the space for Vivaldo to both explore and punish his sexuality.

Lastly Eric, Baldwin's only “openly” queer character in Another Country. Eric’s story further exemplifies New York as a space of queer struggle. Eric moved to New York to pursue his career and be free from the antigay prejudice of his family. In his one sided relationship with Rufus this prejudice only changed operators. Eric came to the city to escape his issues, but quickly found he needed to escape from the city as