Go Tell It on the MountainOne of the most brilliant and provocative American writers of the twentieth century chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle of self-invention in this “truly extraordinary” novel (Chicago Sun-Times). Baldwin's classic novel opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin tells the story of the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Originally published in 1953, Baldwin said of his first novel, "Mountain is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else." |
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ain't altar arms asked aunt began better bless body brother called changed church coming cried cursed darkness death Deborah don't door Elisha Elizabeth eyes face fall father fear feet felt fire Florence forever Gabriel girl give going gone hands head hear heard heart held holy Jesus John John's keep knew laughed light living looked Lord mighty mind morning mother mouth moved never night once opened pray preach raised remember Richard rise rose saints saved seemed seen silence singing Sister smiled sometimes soul sound speak stand stood stop streets Sunday sure talk tears tell things thought told tonight took trembling trying turned voice waiting walked watched weeping woman women wonder young