James Schafter Character Analysis in The Golden Notebook

James Schafter is a young American writer and friend of Anna’s who embraces and parodies the excesses of the literary world, befriending a critic who gave him a scathing review and publishing satirical fake journals and short stories that lampoon Western writers’ self-indulgence and racial insensitivity. He convinces Anna to publish a fake journal of her own, but she cannot bear to see it come out in her own name.

James Schafter Character Timeline in The Golden Notebook

The timeline below shows where the character James Schafter appears in The Golden Notebook. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Action, Freedom, and Moral Courage Theme Icon

Fact, Fiction, and Authorship Theme Icon

Anna shows this to “the young American writer James Schafter,” and they add some more entries before getting it published in an American review. Schafter... (full context)

Fragmentation, Breakdown, and Unity Theme Icon

Communism and Disillusionment Theme Icon

Anna and Schafter decide to invent another journal, this one written by a middle-aged woman, who had spent... (full context)

Pasted in the notebook is a story, “Blood on the Banana Leaves,” that James Schafter has written in lieu of the 12 reviews he is supposed to send a literary... (full context)