Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone

Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone is James Baldwin's fourth novel, first published in 1968. Leo Proudhammer, an African American actor who grew up in Harlem and later moved into Greenwich Village, has a heart attack while on stage. This event creates the present tense setting for the novel, which is mostly narrated in retrospect, explaining each relationship with a story from the actor's life. Barbara, a white woman, and Leo, a black man, are artistic partners for life—sometimes sexual partners, sometimes not. Jerry, their white friend, was Barbara's partner for a while, before... Barbara revealed her love for Leo. Their life stories are intertwined, but not joined, due both to the racial pressures of society and Leo's bisexuality. One of Leo's lovers, "Black Christopher," is a significant political and emotional figure in the novel. Christopher's friends are all African-American, and his life centers around the struggle for racial justice. Barbara and Christopher have one sexual encounter, but, like much of the sex in the book, it is exploratory, and only significant for what it reveals to each of them. Barbara, Leo, and Christopher remain friends throughout the novel.
more