_¥_*___,, v\ - l . / ., . _ E Glueev Classics I ARTS january 2002 OlTl‘1-25 Jowvles Bo\la\w’m'$ "GIovamm"s' Room" BY ERNIE McLEoD When James Baldwin (1924-1987) submitted his second novel, Gz'ovomm"s Room, for publication, no one was pleased. His publisher, Knopf, turned the book down; his agent told him to burn the manu- script; everyone said he shouldn’t have written it. This wasthe mid- 50s and Baldwin, born in Harlem and the grandson of a slave, had already established a reputation for himself with prestigiously pub- lished essays and an acclaimed semifautobiographical first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain. These early works branded Baldwin an elo- quent chronicler of the black experience, and, logically, it was expect- ed that his next work would also deal with “the Negro problem.” Instead, Giovannfs Room was set in Paris, featured white characters, and dealt with sexual ambivalence at a time when ambivalence was frowned upon and sexuality was locked tight behind closet doors. In spite of its shocking theme, the novel did get published, first in London and then in the States by a smaller press’ than Knopf. The reviews were, at best, mixed. One, while praising Baldwin’s delicacy with such a controversial topic, made sure to also note that much of the novel was “laid in scenes of squalor” and host to a “grotesque and repulsive” background of characters. . Complicated as its reception was, Gz'ovanm"s Room couldn’t have a simpler plot. In the first few pages, David, the story’s narrator, reveals that his fiancee Hella has abandoned him in the south of France to sailiback to America and that Giovanni — the man he was “with” when Hella went off to Spain for a while —- is headed for the guillo- tine the next morning. The rest of the novel is basically an extended flashback tracing David’s relationship with Giovanni from its drunk- enly romantic Paris inception through its unbearably cruel unwinding as,_;,I9av‘id ‘attempts to forge a more acceptable life with Hella. The novelcircles back finally to David standing completely alone on the eve of Giovanni’s execution, imagining for the reader Giovanni’s last hoursson earth and the circumstances of his downfall, while contem—_ _ épggflhe might save his own body from the “sentence_o‘ plating death.” ’ advises fellow practitioner-sf 0 , know the facts about home‘ ’ ‘ uality to better serve patién 51;" In The Life, America’s aw’ ' ‘ h1v;:3a—y;; <1 ' Ii~1jrI.1‘ll”lI-: LIFE erinoiit Public Television e.Ver§,