New York City In Another Country

James Baldwin (1924-1987) is considered one of the most important Afro-American writers in the twentieth century. Another Country is his third novel. It was a best-seller when it was published. However, researches on Another Country have been done mostly by American scholars so far. And most of the studies are done, according to my incomprehensive survey, on sexual and racial politics. This thesis attempts to analyze this book from the perspective of urban studies.The city is an unusual space with its own history and culture. However, different authors may present different imaginative pictures of the city; they have different impressions and understandings of the city whose citizens are usually led by urban culture. Therefore, the image of the city helps the writer to create a city of his own. The park, the bar, the street and the house and apartment are four significant urban images in Another Country. With these spatial images, following the characters'trajectory, Baldwin creates his own New York City.New York City reminds most people of American dream and provides them with the possibility to achieve success; however, it can never be Baldwin's New York City. In Another Country, the parks, for the blacks, are not the places for recreation; the bars are paradises for the successful people but refuges for the despaired artists; the streets display the pointless urban life; the houses can never be urban residents'homes. New York City is a place of no justness. It is a highly organized, meaningless and lonely city which requires all its citizens to follow its social orders and to lead a mechanic life; it is a threatening city where the artists find it hard to seek their true self. In a word, New York City is not a dream place for the marginalized people and it is impossible for them to obtain a sense of belonging in the city.This thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter One is a survey of the city images in Afro-American fiction, concerning Richard Wright's Native Son, Ann Petry's The Street, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, and Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. Chapter Two analyzes the park image in the novel, focusing on the blacks and the whites'different feelings in the parks; Chapter Three discusses the bar image in the book, showing that New York is a city of lust and despair; Chapter Four discusses Harlem streets and downtown streets as the images of desperation and unjustness; Chapter Five focuses on the main characters'houses and apartments, showing that it is impossible for the marginalized people to make a home in the city. Then a conclusion is arrived at: in Another Country, the marginalized people, particularly the blacks and the artists, can not realize their dreams in New York City.