A close reading of James Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues" that provides insight into his life and ideas about art. Tom Jenks's reading of James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" follows a scene-by-scene, sometimes line-by-line, discussion of the pattern by which Baldwin indelibly writes "Sonny's Blues" into the consciousness of readers. It provides ongoing observations of the aesthetics underlying the particulars of the story, with references to Edward P. Jones (whose magnificent story "All Aunt Hagar's Children" bears a knowing relationship to "Sonny's Blues,") to Charlie Parker's music, and to Billie Holiday's "Am I Blue?" and John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" as part of the musical progression Baldwin creates, and with attention to Baldwin's oratorical gifts and the biblical references in the story, to its time structure, characterizations, dramatic action, and, most of all, its totality of effect. Drawing on Baldwin's book-length essay The Fire Next Time, which Baldwin published a six years after the publication of the short story, Tom Jenks offers insight on some of the sources in Baldwin's life for "Sonny's Blues" and on the logic and passion by which life may be meaningfully transformed into art.

James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" (My Reading)

Literature & Fiction

Jenks, Tom

History & Criticism

Oxford University Press

The effects of war on people are examined using this group of stories about war, ranging from World War II to future wars.

Soldiers and Civilians

Bantam]

Esquire Fiction Reader

Hills, Rust

Wampeter Press

The Fall 2008 issue of NARRATIVE Magazine features a rare and dazzling array of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by some of the country's most celebrated contemporary authors, and introduces innovative writing by several of the most promising up and coming writers. Included in this issue are the winning stories from our Love Story Contest by authors Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Maud Newton, and Janet Burroway. Also in this indispensable new collection: nonfiction from Bill Barich, poetry by Michelle Bitting, and a classic selection from W. H. Auden.

Narrative Magazine Fall Issue 2008

Short Stories & Anthologies

Narrative Magazine

The great new Fall 2009 issue from NARRATIVEMAGAZINE.COM offers an excerpt from Pulitzer Prize–winner Robert Olen Butler’s ingenuous novel Hell, revealing the eternal fates of Dick Cheney, J. Edgar Hoover, Sylvia Beach, and many other infamous characters. In a personally revealing, humorous vein, Melanie Gideon’s “Mattress Wars,” excerpted from her best-selling book, The Slippery Year, relates the perils of sharing a bed. Award-winning novelist Ann Packer’s short story “Molten” takes a mother deep into the lyrics of her lost son’s rock music collection and transports her into a confrontation with the mother of the child her son gave his life to save. Plus, Pia Z. Ehrhardt’s heartful interview with the great Gail Godwin accompanies an excerpt from Godwin’s new epic novel, Unfinished Desires. The issue rounds out with Tom Grimes’s “Water for New Delhi,” an ironic tale about Western philanthropic efforts to address a water crisis in Indian slums; new stories from master writers Richard Bausch and Janet Burroway; an essay by Joyce Carol Oates about mentors and one by David Bradley on jazz; fiction by important newcomers Adam Atlas and Evan James Roskos; poetry by Sherwin Bitsui, Stephen Dobyns, Laura Kasischke, Ben Lerner, Charlie Smith, and Connie Wanek; Broadway lyricist Lynn Ahrens’s Best Advice; Letters to a Young Writer by Ann Beattie and Carol Edgarian; great cartoons; book reviews; a wonderful Reader’s Narrative and a classic tale by Ambrose Bierce. Nowhere can a greater collection of periodical literary art be found. Don’t miss this wonderful issue.

Narrative Magazine Fall Issue 2009

AMBITION. FAME. SEX. Envy. Gossip. Money. Death. They’re all here, in this dazzling book of quotations—many of them previously unpublished—from the diaries, journals, and notebooks of the world’s greatest writers. Arranged chronologically, from the fervent declarations of youth to the serene reflections of old age, The Writer’s Life spans twenty-three countries and four centuries to observe the entire spectrum of the human condition, with particular attention paid to the joys and agonies of literary endeavor. Eloquent, candid, brimming with passion, insight, and wit, the result is an invaluable resource for any writer—or for anyone seeking expert instruction in the art of being human.   THE WRITERS INCLUDED:   SHERWOOD ANDERSON - ISAAC BABEL - ROY BLOUNT JR. RAYMOND CARVER - ANNIE DILLARD - ATHOL FUGARD GAIL GODWIN - DONALD HALL - JIM HARRISON CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD - HENRY JAMES - CAROLYN KIZER PHILIP LEVINE - THOMAS MANN - LORRIE MOORE JOYCE CAROL OATES - BEATRIX POTTER - JAMES SALTER LEO TOLSTOY - WILLIAM TREVOR - C. K. WILLIAMS and a great many more

The Writer’s Life

Reference

Edgarian, Carol

Quotations

Narrative Library

Legendary authors and astonishing newcomers join together in Narrative's annual edition for 2013. Here you'll find short stories, poetry, essays, istories, ipoems, and a sexy classic—nearly 400 pages of timeless amusement and fascination. This annual volume brings together more than forty of the best works published and forthcoming online at NarrativeMagazine.com for 2012-2013.

Narrative Magazine Winter Issue 2013

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Jenks, Tom. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Jenks, Tom