The devil finds leisure

Abstract

In 1976, James Baldwin's The Devil Finds Work is published, a scathingly telling piece of cinematic critique at the height of exploitation and the ongoing efforts of the Black Liberation Movement (BLM). Prior to that in 1963, Baldwin had published The Fire Next Time, a poignant letter to a nephew on the state of America in the midst of eventual civil unrest. What is presented is a fictionalized letter to a family member that takes the reader through a day-in-the-life of a racialised self within a society that does the work of racialising through forms of leisure entertainment, all in the midst of a pandemic and global civil unrest. Within that day, Baldwin's work serves as the inspiration for this recollection and criticism, as very little has been discussed about fiction as entertainment for consumption and the implications of this consumption. Here, the devil finds leisure as much as work.