Typescript title page with holograph emendations, Giovanni’s Room

Baldwin was determined to prove his versatility with his second novel. Giovanni’s Room is in the voice of David, a young, white American in Paris who is forced to confront his fears and desires when he falls in love with Giovanni, an Italian bartender. Though its setting and characters suggest a radical departure, the autobiographical references in Giovanni’s Room are as direct as those in Mountain. The novel is dedicated to Lucien Happersberger, who provided much of the inspiration for Giovanni’s character.

This manuscript shows the evolution of the epigraph for Giovanni’s Room. Baldwin chooses and then rejects two quotations from the Bible’s Book of Job before boldly opting for Walt Whitman: “I am the man, I suffered, I was there.”