Queer Temporality and Fatherhood in James Baldwin’s Going to Meet the Man

Abstract

The theme of fatherhood in James Baldwin’s novels and essays has frequently been the subject of analysis. An examination of the same topic in the single short story collection published in his lifetime, Going to Meet the Man, sheds a new light on the topic given the disruptive and anti-closural potential of the short story cycle, as theorised by critics like Rolf Lundén. By applying theories of queer temporality to these anti-closural strategies, it is easier to understand how Baldwin subverts the role that fatherhood plays in his short story collection. Special attention is drawn to three of the stories.