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Go Tell It on the Mountain
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Go Tell It on the Mountain Hardcover - 1993

by James Baldwin


About this book

Written over a span of ten years, Go Tell It on the Mountain is James Baldwin’s first completed novel. The story follows John Grimes, a bright teen living in Harlem in the 1930s, as he explores relationships with his family and his church. On a basic level, Go Tell It on the Mountain is a coming of age story, yet the novel gains complexity as the omniscient narrator interweaves John’s story with the stories of his mother, father, and aunt.

In addition to the Grimes family, a main focus of the text is the function of the Christian Church in the lives of African-Americans, which Baldwin argues to be a source of moral hypocrisy and repression. And with a title like Go Tell It on the Mountain, it is no surprise that the novel contains has many biblical references throughout.

The novel is generally accepted as semi-autobiographical. Like the protagonist, Baldwin grew up in Harlem. Neither had a relationship with their biological fathers and both resented their religious fanatic stepfathers. Also like John, Baldwin underwent a religious awakening as a young adult.

Go Tell It on the Mountain is ranked 39th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century and is also listed on TIME’s “100 Best Novels” (since 1923). In 1984, ABC produced a made-for-television movie based on the novel.

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From the publisher

This haunting coming-of-age story, based in part on James Baldwin's childhood in Harlem, is an American classic. Originally published in 1953, Go Tell It on the Mountain was Baldwin's first major work. With a potent combination of lyrical compassion and resonant rage, he portrays a fourteen-year-old boy questioning the terms of his identity. John Grimes is the stepson of a fire-breathing and abusive Pentecostal preacher in Harlem during the Depression. The action of this short novel spans a single day in John's life, and yet manages to encompass on an epic scale his family's troubled past and his own inchoate longings for the future, set against a shining vision of a city where he both does and does not belong. Baldwin's story illuminates the racism his characters face as well as the double-edged role religion plays in their lives, both oppressive and inspirational. In prose that mingles gritty vernacular cadences with exalted biblical rhythms, Baldwin's rendering of his young protagonist's struggle to invent himself pioneered new possibilities in American language and literature. Introduction by Edwidge Danticat

First Edition Identification

Knopf first published Go Tell it on the Mountain in New York in 1953. Bound in red cloth, the first edition states “First Edition” on the copyright page with no additional printings listed. Its dust jacket states the original price of $3.50. First editions of Go Tell it on the Mountain have sold for $8,000-10,000. 

Details

  • Title Go Tell It on the Mountain
  • Author James Baldwin
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition reprint
  • Pages 256
  • Volumes 1
  • Language SPA
  • Publisher Penguin Group, London
  • Date September 1993
  • ISBN 9780140184501 / 0140184503
  • Reading level 970
  • Dewey Decimal Code 813.54

About the author

JAMES BALDWIN (1924-1987) was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, appeared in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his essay collections Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time were bestsellers that made him an influential figure in the growing civil rights movement. Baldwin spent much of his life in France, where he moved to escape the racism and homophobia of the United States. He died in France in 1987, a year after being made a Commander of the French Legion of Honor. EDWIDGE DANTICAT is the author of numerous books, including Claire of the Sea Light, a New York Times notable book; Brother, I'm Dying, a National Book Critics Circle Award winner and National Book Award finalist; Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner; and The Dew Breaker, a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist and winner of the inaugural Story Prize. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and elsewhere. She lives in Miami.

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Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) (English and Spanish Edition)

Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) (English and Spanish Edition)

by Baldwin PhD, James

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0140184503
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Description:
Penguin Books, 1993. Paperback. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
A$97.54
FREE shipping to USA