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My Father, the Midcentury Man—With a Lifetime of Secrets

By Mychal Denzel SmithThe New Republic

I had always read James Baldwin’s declaration “I want to be an honest man and a good writer” as a statement of artistic ambition—the kind of thing a young person, defining themselves for the world, says in order to be taken seriously. It comes at the end of “…

I had always read James Baldwins declarationI want to be an honest man and a good writeras a statement of artistic ambitionthe kind of thing a young person, defining themselves for the world, says in…