Giovanni’s Room

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (1956) The story of a love affair between an American man and an Italian man (Giovanni) in Paris, 1950s. The story is somewhat tragic, as the American man, David, eventually rejects his lover—and ultimately Giovanni is imprisoned for murder and executed. As much as the specifics of the story are based on some really well-drawn characters—David (the narrator), Giovanni, some French characters, an American woman David has an affair with, and David’s fiancé—the novel as a whole has a universal scope that might be relatable to your own experience—regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, nationality, and time period. It is a detailed and intense examination of relationships, obsession, and most specifically love. One of the main questions facing the narrator is whether he has experienced love or not, and if he ever well. I suppose as it’s written—there is true love between him and Giovanni, but the affair is so fraught and doomed, it’s hard to ever feel comfortable with the few moments of happiness. The story is framed around the imprisonment and execution of Giovanni, so we never really feel any hope. You also don’t feel much hope for the narrator’s relationship with his fiancé, when she finally arrives on the scene. It’s one of the most vivid portrayals I’ve ever read of a person involved in a relationship they really don’t want to be in—with a kind of dark humor, but also heartbreaking. When the novel was written—the mid-Fifties—the depiction of David’s bisexuality might have been shocking to some readers, in that it’s presented in a straightforward way, rather than in code, with symbols and allegory. I understand that Baldwin’s publisher even rejected the book, forcing him to take it elsewhere. Trying to put in context what I like about James Baldwin—from what I’ve read by him, and from old, filmed interviews—I think it’s similar to the feeling of a friend who always keeps you guessing a little. I mean, challenging you to do a little more thinking than you do with the easy answers and common takes on stuff—like whenever you think you know his take on anything, he’s going to surprise you by adding complexity, or taking things to a bit higher level.