Baldwin refereneced in a lengthy review of Tonny Tanner’s Reign of Wonder
Eric Mottram, ‘American’s Protect their “innocence”’, 17 September 1965, Tribune, Volume 29, Issue 38, p. 14.
Lengthy review of Tonny Tanner’s Reign of Wonder on American literature. Mottram writes about Tanner’s reflections on the ‘meanings of wonder and innocence’ in American literature. JB quoted in final sections of Mottram’s review:
‘Challenged on television recently to substantiate his odd claim that “America’s a wonderful country”, James Baldwin showed clearly what we require (it is transcribed in Encounter for July): “America is the most wonderful country in the world, it is the most extraordinary collection of ill-assessed motives and undigested history, the most peculiar system of moral evasions and tremendous innocence…Americans still believe they can somehow get through life without ever being corrupted. It is an insane endeavour and, of course, this is where the Negro comes in.” Such is the urgent context for Mr. Tanner’s extremely topical book’.
Note on Eric Mottram: