The Story of James Baldwin's Sonny Blues -- ep. by Kenton Rambsy

A brief take on James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” a frequently anthologized story exploring brotherhood, identity, and the power of the blues.

Script by Kenton Rambsy 
Read by Kassandra Timm

Transcript

James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny's Blues,” focuses on a complex relationship between two brothers. The narrative explores the tensions and eventual understanding between an unnamed narrator and his younger brother Sonny, a jazz musician. This story, “Sonny’s Blues” has become one of Baldwin's most famous literary compositions. 

You’re listening to Remarkable Receptions—a podcast about popular and critical responses to African American artistic productions and more. 

“Sonny’s Blues” first appeared in Partisan Review in 1957, and the next year, Baldwin’s composition appeared in the Best American Short Stories of 1958. This inclusion marked the beginning of a longstanding practice of editors reprinting Baldwin’s story in literature anthologies. 

Since its initial publication in 1957, “Sonny's Blues” has been included in over 25 literature anthologies, making Baldwin’s composition one of the most frequently republished short stories by a Black writer. Over the decades, while other Baldwin stories like “The Outing” and “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon” were favorably cited, “Sonny’s Blues” became particularly notable for its compelling exploration of themes such as individualism and alienation.  

 In his essay, ““The Jazz-Blues Motif in James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues,’” Richard N. Albert noted the story resonates with readers navigating their own experiences of identity and belonging. In The Anthology of the American Short Story (2008), James Nagel highlighted “Sonny’s Blues” for its insightful portrayal of racial identity and artistic expression, contributing to the story’s popularity. 

 Of course, the resonance of “Sonny’s Blues” is tied up in its title, which signals hardship and musicality. On the one hand, the title “Sonny’s Blues” signals Sonny’s personal struggles, and on the other hand, the “Blues” of the title invokes Sonny’s engagement with music, and the sharing of the expressive form.

 By artfully fusing the sadness and sounds of the blues, Baldwin’s short story powerfully resonates with many works of African American literature.   

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The episode was written by Kenton Rambsy. The episode was edited by Elizabeth Cali and Howard Rambsy. 

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This podcast, Remarkable Receptions, is part of the Black Literature Network, a joint project from African American literary studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the History of Black Writing at the University of Kansas. The project was made possible by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation.  For more information, visit blacklitnetwork.org.