Book Club: Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin's classic tale of damaged men and heartbreak.
Written in 1956, Giovanni's Room is novel by James Baldwin.
This was Baldwin's second published novel, following on his breakthrough success of Go Tell It on the Mountain which was published in 1953.
Baldwin was living in Paris at the time, and his publisher was wary of how Giovanni's Room would be received - it was a departure from the debut novel in terms of its overt exploration of the lives of gay men, it was also a story that didn't position itself within a discourse about racism. After numerous rejections, a publisher was eventually found and Giovanni's Room has become one of the iconic gay novels that is pretty much required reading for men who are figuring out their sexuality.
What's it about?
The story is told from the perspective of David, he's a young American man who is living Paris as a form of escape from the uncertainty of his life in the US. He's proposed to his girlfriend, Hella, and she's gone away to Spain to decide whether she wants to marry him. One night, in a bar, David meets Giovanni - an Italian man working as a bartender. David and Giovanni embark on a passionate affair - living together in Giovanni's small room. When Hella returns to Paris, David abandons Giovanni but the consequences are disastrous. The novel captures David's reflections as he recounts the events that have led to this moment - the day that Giovanni will be executed for murder.
What inspired the story?
While there are numerous echoes of Baldwin's life in this story, he explained that it wasn't autobiographical in any way. Apparently, the primary inspiration for the character of David was a young American man that Baldwin observed one night in a Parisian bar - he later saw the man's photo in the paper when he had been arrested for something.
What themes does the novel explore?
A key theme is the emigrant experience. Baldwin - who relocated to Paris to escape the racism and homophobia he endured in America - shows us the ephemeral allure of moving to a different country. Destined to always be an outsider, Baldwin highlights that leaving home doesn't really solve anything - you are effectively running away from problems or issues that will need to be addressed at some point.
The damage caused by internalised homophobia is another key theme of the novel. David has been struggling with his sexuality since his teens - determinedly pushing aside intimacy and affection as he does his best to deny what he is feeling. His passion for Giovanni is the first time that he begins to explore what it might be like to connect emotionally with another man, but he also compartmentalises that - convinced that it could never be something sustainable, that he inevitably need to return to 'normal' life soon enough.
Why is this an important novel for gay men?
Although 1950s Paris is in many ways a different world from our lives today, most gay men will feel some level of empathy and resonance with the characters that Baldwin has created.
While David is firmly in denial about his desires, the flashback to his first experience of intimacy with a schoolfriend is something that most gay men will recognise as familiar. As the hormones kick in and you start to feel stuff, there's a tremendous uncertainty that you have to navigate as you try and understand what your body is telling you - often that's accompanied by fear and shame, instinctively othered by our desires. We're desperate to connect with other men who feel what we feel but also terrified of how vulnerable that makes us - terrified of rejection and the consequences of revealing ourselves to the world.
There's also something very alluring in the picture that Baldwin paints of the nightlife of Paris. Small, seedy bars where gay men gather to drink, an early morning breakfast near the market where the rent-boys drink brandy and share their adventures of the night before. There's an earthiness, a raw sexuality to these experiences that we often hunger for, but also a sense of community and connection - we long to find others who share our desires and don't judge who we are.
While we now have fairly mainstream and widespread representation of gay men and gay relationships, Giovanni's Room was one of the first to show what happens between two men in a relatively authentic way. Sure, we might have wished for a happier ending for our protagonists, but we could imagine ourselves falling madly in love with a sexy barman, we could imagine ourselves being loved.
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