8 /10 1 Votes
Originally published 1962 | 4/5 Goodreads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
James Baldwin books The Outing, Come Out the Wilderness, Little Man Little Man: A Story of, Going to Meet the Man, Tell Me How Long the Train | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"This Morning, This Evening, So Soon" is a 1960 short story by James Baldwin, taken from the short story collection, Going to Meet the Man. The story was originally published in the September, 1960, issue of The Atlantic Monthly.
Contents
Plot summary
The Narrator is spending his last night in Paris with his family and his sister, who is visiting.
He then thinks back to the time he returned to America after his mother's funeral, and the way the Statue of Liberty made no sense to him, and people were treating him differently there.
He goes on to think back to the time when he was shooting Les Fauves Nous Attendent, and how the director had upbraided him for not playing it real. He then told him of the way a black man in America feels ostracised.
Back to his last night in Paris, the protagonist and Vidal go to a jazz joint, where his music is being played and a group of black Americans entice them to join them. They then all move to a pavement cafe, where Pete starts singing, and Boona joins them. As Vidal suggests moving to another club and thus discarding Boona, Ada invites him along. Later, Talley informs The Narrator that he saw Boona steal ten American dollars (in francs) from Ada's handbag. After the unresolved accusation, they all return to their houses. The Narrator picks up Paul from Mme Dumont, looking towards their voyage towards the United States.