Novel
Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin · 1956
Synopsis
David, a young American in Paris, is short of money; his fiancée, Hella, has gone to Spain to think over his proposal of marriage. One evening, in Guillaume's bar, he meets Giovanni, a newly hired Italian barman, and, after a night spent at Les Halles, follows him home. They live for a few months in a maid's room with covered windows. Guillaume dismisses Giovanni. Then Hella returns, and David leaves the room without warning.
Context
Knopf rejects the manuscript, and its author is advised to burn it; Baldwin said he could not treat race and desire in a single book. Accepted first in London by Michael Joseph, the novel was published in 1956 in New York by Dial Press, which removed the author's photograph. It is dedicated to Lucien Happersberger. Baldwin would say in 1980 that it speaks less about homosexuality than about what happens when one is so afraid that one can no longer love anyone.
Who it is for
A short novel, in the first person, told after the fact. Translated into French as early as 1958, then by Élisabeth Guinsbourg in 1997.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as a foundational work of gay literature; the Publishing Triangle ranked it second in 1999.
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