African-American literature expert to present lecture at WFU

By Rachel Cook
336.758.5237
November 11, 2002

African-American literature expert Maurice Wallace will present a lecture titled “The World, the Text and the Witness: James Baldwin’s Secular Criticism” Nov. 19 at 4:30 p.m. in Greene Hall Auditorium at Wake Forest University. The event is free and open to the public.

The lecture will highlight Baldwin’s decade of self-imposed exile in Istanbul and his portrayal of black masculinity abroad.

Baldwin, who grew up in Harlem, became disenchanted with the state of 1950s race relations in the United States and spent much of his adult life abroad. Wallace recently returned from Istanbul, where he researched Baldwin and the time the author spent there.

An assistant professor of African-American literature at Duke University and an ordained minister, Wallace is the author of “Constructing the Black Masculine: Identity and Ideality in African-American Men’s Literature and Culture, 1775-1995.” He is currently working on a new book, titled “Hostile Witness: James Baldwin as Artist and Outlaw.”

At Wake Forest, the lecture is sponsored by the English department, the Dean of the College, the American ethnic studies program, the women’s studies program and the Multicultural Affairs office. For more information, call 336-758-6143.