James Baldwin: Escape from America, Exile in Provence

The life and influence of Jimmy in Saint-Paul de Vence. Composed of more than 70 interviews with some of the many people who encountered James Baldwin in the last 17 years of his life, this revealing retrospective provides an intimate look into one of America's greatest literary figures. Baldwin escaped from the racism and hatred in America to find solace and self-exile in Saint-Paul de Vence. In his time there, Baldwin became a beloved neighbor and friend to the locals of the village and hosted many guests from around the world in his grand bastide. Legendary celebrities, such as Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Bill Wyman, and others, tell their personal reminisces and stories about Baldwin.

About the Author :
After receiving his bachelor of literary letters in journalism from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, Jules B. Farber worked in public relations before becoming a freelance journalist and communications manager. He has written for various American and foreign publications and has published six books in multiple languages. His interest in James Baldwin arose when he saw a picture of Baldwin in the halls of La Colombe d'Or, while visiting Saint-Paul de Vence. Jack Lang is a député from the Pas de Calais region at the Assemblée Nationale, a member of the Commission of Foreign Affairs in the National Assembly, and president of the Association for the Development of the Centre Pompidou. In addition to other governmental positions, he is the president of l'Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, France. Lang was a lifelong friend of James Baldwin.

Review :
"Jules B. Farber's book, James Baldwin - Escape from America, Exile in Provence, is a story woven from over seventy interviews with friends, associates, and lovers of James Baldwin about the seventeen years (1970-1987) that Baldwin lived in the French provincial town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. It is MUST READ for those wanting to better understand Baldwin's thoughts, fears, actions, and works written during these last years of his life." - Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, May 2017 [Farber] illustrates a truer sense of his home in Saint Paul de Vence than anything else I've read, something that I yearned for. Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins, writer, curator, and art historian, University of San Francisco Jules Farbers book is one such achievement, bringing back to life his talented, colourful, controversial fellow countryman James Baldwin. Lynne Anderson, Anglo-American Group of Provence . . . it revealed a very complicated negotiation on Baldwins part with the European version of white supremacy. Todd Steven Burroughs, DrumsInTheGlobalVillage.com Cet ouvrage se concentre exclusivement sur les 17 dernières années méconnues de d'exil auto-imposé de James Baldwin á Saint-Paul de Vence, dans le sud de la France, de 1970 jusqu'á son décès en 1987. En tant que premier Noir á sinstaller dans cette enclave entièrement blanche avec une population agricole conservatrice, Baldwin rencontra au tout début le même genre de racisme qu'il avait connu aux États-Unis. Collectif James Baldwin, Paris, France on Change.org "Lately, there has been no shortage of critical attention and homage paid to James Baldwin. Raoul Pecks documentary I Am Not Your Negro draws an important line between Baldwins civil rightsoriented writing and activism in the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter era we currently inhabit. But one of the most compelling and underpublicized works Ive encountered is Jules B. Farbers superb 2016biography James Baldwin: Escape from America, Exile in Provence.It painstakingly fleshes out the writers final 17 years, which he spent living in a sprawling farmhousecurrently in danger of being demolished by a developerjust outside the walled medieval village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, in the south of France. The book is especially worth considering in juxtaposition to the Peck documentary and the somewhat narrow image it portrays of the authors earlier, fiery, angry tone of the sixties, as Farber writes. He correctly points out that Baldwin, in the face of attacks from a younger generation of black writers and activists, was able to seek refuge and take distance and become more complex and humane with a more lucid vision of race relations, human tolerance, and understanding in Provence." - Thomas Chatterton Williams, The American Scholar April 2017