Thomas Chatterton Williams is an expatriate writer and a former Harper’s Magazine Easy Chair columnist. He joins editor in chief Christopher Beha to discuss his essay, “Continental Divide,” in which Williams travels to Leukerbad, Switzerland, to retrace James Baldwin’s journey in “Stranger in the Village.” The two reflect on the rewarding perspectives gained from living outside one’s home country, and survey the souring relationship between the United States and France.

Read Baldwin’s “Stranger in the Village”:
https://harpers.org/archive/1953/10/stranger-in-the-village/
Read Williams’s “Continental Divide”: https://harpers.org/archive/2021/10/continental-divide-stranger-in-the-village/
Read Williams’s final column for Harper’s: https://harpers.org/archive/2021/12/under-the-surface

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