James Baldwin on Love

As we approach Holy Week, the time is right to reflect on the nature of genuine love: what it is, what it’s for, and how it connects to the joys and sufferings of our lives.

Toward the end of his life, Baldwin gave a television interview in which he was asked to reflect on the essential subject of his classic, groundbreaking novel, Giovanni’s Room. Baldwin’s answer is an extraordinary meditation on love, and in particular, how it can serve a kind of educational purpose in our lives. Here’s what Baldwin said, laid out as a poem for your reading pleasure.

To see and hear Baldwin deliver these words, watch the interview excerpt here.

What’s the novel, Giovanni’s Room, about? Baldwin’s answer:

It’s about what happens to you
if you can’t love anybody.
It doesn’t make any difference
whether you can’t love a woman,
or can’t love a man —
if you can’t love anybody,
you’re dangerous.
Because you’ve no way
of learning humility.
No way of learning
that other people suffer.
No way of learning
how to use your suffering,
and theirs, to get from one place
to another.

In short, you fail the human
responsibility, which is
to love each other.

+ James Baldwin