Critical Overview
The complexities of response to Baldwin's writing reflect his own complexities
as an artist and a human being. As is the case with virtually any "ethnic"
writer in America, Baldwin treated themes of the individual's quest for
personal identity in terms of the complicated and often painful tangle of
relationships to one's own ethnic group and to the larger culture. From the beginning of his career, as indicated most directly by the novel
Giovanni's Room and the essays on Richard Wright, Baldwin refused to be
categorized as a protest writer or a cultural commentator who happened to
employ fiction as one of his modes of expression. Instead, he insisted upon
being taken seriously as an artist and being judged by the same assumptions and
evaluative concerns as would be applied to any other writer of fiction.
- Historical and Sociological Criticism:
- Baldwin's
work has been considered in the light of the historical and sociological modes.
One can see these themes most clearly embodied in "Sonny's Blues" in the
narrator's own personal evolution, especially as it is shown through his
developing feelings toward and understanding of his brother.
- Biographical Criticism:
-
The Harlem
setting of "Sonny's Blues," and of Go Tell It on the Mountain and other
Baldwin works, has led critics to employ the biographical approach to his
work.
- Formal Criticism:
-
The stylistic excellence of Baldwin's best work is often studied by formalist critics.
- Psychological Criticism:
- Baldwin's
ability to render the hopes and fears of the human spirit in all its pain and
glory, his moral seriousness and integrity—have compelled critics
to engage both the larger view of human existence that informs his work and the
nature and quality of his contribution to American fiction.
Critical Articles
- Excerpt from
"James Baldwin's Blues and the Function of Art"
By Edward Lobb (The International Fiction Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, Summer,
1979, pp. 143-51.)
- A discussion of the themes of art and life in "Sonny's Blues."
- "Sonny's Blues" By Joseph Flibbert (excerpt from Reference Guide to Short Fiction, Detroit
and London: St. James Press, 1999.)
- A brief look at the importance of Blues music as personal expression.
- Excerpt from "'Sonny's Blues': James Baldwin's Image of the Black Community" By John M. Reilly (Negro American Literature Forum, Vol. 4, No. 2, July,
1970, pp. 56-60.)
- A brief look at the sociological themes in Baldwin's story.
- On "Sonny's Blues" by Dana Gioia (2001)
- An overview including analysis of the story's narrative structure.
