James Baldwin

"Giovanni's Room traces one man's struggle with his sexual identity. In a 1950s Paris swarming with expatriates and characterized by dangerous liaisons and hidden violence, an American finds himself confronting secret desires that jeopardize the conventional life he envisions for himself. After meeting and proposing to a young woman, he falls into a lengthy affair with an Italian bartender and is confounded and tortured as he oscillates between the two." "Now a classic of gay literature, Baldwin's haunting and controversial second novel is his most sustained treatment of sexuality. Examining the agonizing mystery of love and passion in an intensely imagined yet beautifully restrained narrative, Baldwin creates a moving and complex story of death and desire that is revelatory in its insight."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Giovanni's Room

eve 

He held my face between his hands and I suppose such tenderness has scarcely ever produced such terror as I then felt.

I cannot read what is in his eyes: if it is terror, then I have never seen terror, if it is anguish, then anguish has never laid hands on me.

This book is so much more than a confession of love between two men. It’s about the humiliation that comes so naturally with it, hatred for the lover and the loved. James Baldwin is exquisite, you find little hidden nooks in every part of the book.

Baldwin’s prose is suffocatingly beautiful and readable. The description of homosexuality, sex, love, anguish, despair, loneliness, fear, is so real, it’s right in front of you, that you feel it yourself. After reading this book full of emotions and complex ideas, you can see what happens when you’re so very afraid to the point you can’t love a living soul, not even your own.

Baldwin’s books fascinate me and the more I read them, the more I want to write an essay on his lack of the female perspectives and queer black women experience; he did consider the male queer and black experiences more difficult. Overall such a complex viewpoint I really wanna study - I’ll read Revolutionary Hope soon, a conversation between audre lorde and James Baldwin.

This book is so much more than a confession of love between two men. It’s about the humiliation that comes so naturally with it, hatred for the lover and the loved. James Baldwin is exquisite, you find little hidden nooks in every part of the book.

Baldwin’s prose is suffocatingly beautiful and readable. The description of homosexuality, sex, love, anguish, despair, loneliness, fear, is so real, it’s right in front of you, that you feel it yourself. After reading this book full of emotions and complex ideas, you can see what happens when you’re so very afraid to the point you can’t love a living soul, not even your own.

Baldwin’s books fascinate me and the more I read them, the more I want to write an essay on his lack of the female perspectives and queer black women experience; he did consider the male queer and black experiences more difficult. Overall such a complex viewpoint I really wanna study - I’ll read Revolutionary Hope soon, a conversation between audre lorde and James Baldwin.

Giovanni's Room

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