Giovanni's Room

''Audacious... remarkable... elegant and courageous'' Caryl Phillips
David, a young American in 1950s Paris, is waiting for his fiancee to return from vacation in Spain. But when he meets Giovanni, a handsome Italian barman, the two men are drawn into an intense affair. After three months David''s fiancee returns and, denying his true nature, he rejects Giovanni for a ''safe'' future as a married man. His decision eventually brings tragedy.

Filled with passion, regret and longing, this story of a fated love triangle has become a landmark of gay writing. James Baldwin caused outrage as a black author writing about white homosexuals, yet for him the issues of race, sexuality and personal freedom were eternally intertwined.
''Baldwin, in this novel, made clear that he could work wonders with the light and shade of intimacy'' Colm Toibín, The New Yorker<>

Report

Extraordinarily exact and complex emotional intimacy . . . At the core of the novel lies Baldwin's recognition that with a denial of suffering and pain as a means of happiness, there can be no feeling, understanding, or real connection in life Guardian

Product details

• Authors: James Baldwin
• Assisted by: Caryl Phillips (Introduction), Phillips Caryl (Introduction)
• Publisher: Penguin Books Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.08.2024
• EAN: 9780241718599
• ISBN: 978-0-241-71859-9
• No. of pages: 176
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 204 mm x 25 mm
• Series: Penguin Clothbound Classics
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / City Life, Narrative theme: Interior life, Narrative theme: Social issues, Narrative theme: Identity / belonging, Paris (City), c 1950 to c 1959, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Relating to gay people, FICTION / LGBTQ+ / Gay, FICTION / Romance / LGBTQ+ / Gay, Narrative theme: Diversity, equality, inclusion