within itself numerous associations between subculture, art, life and, frequently, drug use. He claimed the spate of knife and gun murders was not being caused by poverty, but a “distinctive black culture”. In a way it is, the uncontrollability of loss which leads him to discover his. Thus, when it is revealed as such, Sonny’s music is acceptable as, the counterpart to his addiction, a glimmer of life within the, desperation of his situation. The narrator. I was asked by the conference organisers to form a response to the James Baldwin essay, Uses of the Blues, first published in Playboy magazine in the 1960s. Although in it transcendence – of the world through drugs, or, of drugs through endurance, of suffering through its expression. There is a fatalism attached to their existence. I shall call this moral problem epistemic addiction. I mentor a girl in care and I struggle with this myself but I think it has to be done. I argue that Baldwin’s construction of a vantage point of critical empathy, which he models, as a mode of engagement with the ‘troubled’ content of the text, is instrumental to his figurative. It also, announces the narrator’s ability to listen, and willingness to, Music, particularly in incongruent or unforgiving, circumstances, appears at some of the text’s most difficult, moments. The precision of Baldwin’s, diction is revealing – Sonny’s state is ‘as though’ something, occurs. 4 Responses to James Baldwin’s “Blues” David E. Steele April 11, 2017 at 12:07 pm # I would like to hear more about the White Horse, the scene at that time and living in Greenwich Village during this period, maybe some recolletions from New York in the 50’s… It takes more than going solo. Immersing himself in the, metaphorical manifestation of his brother’s experience, he, finally understands, and interprets what he hears for the, reader. One of the areas I cover in my work is something the UK Government calls: integration and cohesion. This is perhaps an unfair division of blame. This is how he perceives the instrumental ‘dialogue’. This non-verbal eloquence is placed in contrast to the faltering, unsatisfying conversations of the text. To, make this point he has Sonny himself insist, in a rare moment, of candour, that his heroin use has no bearing on his ability, to play, by which he seems to mean his ability to improvise, and create more than just his mechanical dexterity. into beauty – is solitary, understanding and community are not, and grace is about listening as much as playing. Significantly, these authors also identify. “I could name six men with whom I grew up, who are on the needle just because there is really no….the demoralization is so complete. It is a vacuum, which Sonny, as significantly and dually named as his. But Sonny’s blues stretches even further than that. © 2008-2020 ResearchGate GmbH. I am reminded of Sonny’s Blues when Sonny says: “’Her voice reminded me for a minute of what heroin feels like sometimes – when it’s in your veins. Baldwin’s inclusion, of this consideration, into small but significant markers, of subjective space in the text, works as a reinforcement of, content through form. heroin, and of music, Sonny can venture into it and return. The narrator is able to complete. How are they supposed to begin to “repair” when so-called civilised society views them like this? %��������� The blues, as it is rendered, in Baldwin’s text, is concerned with experience and its, representation. Absorption. to understand Sonny he is enabled by his own problems, especially the death of his young daughter. Deur bevindings uit ‘n noukeurige lesing van die, teks met ander bydraes in die veld te kombineer, betoog ek dat ons as lesers en ondersoekers. It asks whether “angels” within so-called civil society see the “demons” from poorer, vulnerable backgrounds as thoughtless, random, self-centred and violent? ‘Instead of representing Jazz as, the music of pleasure and immediacy, Baldwin shows how a. fundamental lack lies at its core’ (Taylor 2010:93).