Giovanni's Room
Novel by James BaldwinWikipedia
23
MENTIONS
14
EPISODES
14
PODCASTS
Search complete. 23 mentions across 14 episodes found for "Giovanni's Room".
Oct 28, 2026
Becca FreemanHOST
Another one that I'm curious about is something by James Baldwin.
Becca FreemanHOST
I think his best known work is probably Giovanni's Room, but that is an influence that I constantly see writers who I deeply respect and admire name as a key influence for them.
Becca FreemanHOST
So I feel like I'm You know, I want to know my favorite writers' favorite writers.
Becca FreemanHOST
So that's one for me.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
All of his novels are love stories.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
Giovanni's Room is a great gay love story.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
Another Country is kind of a novel about the struggles of love for black and white Americans to love each other in America.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
If Beale Street Could Talk is a love story.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
He dedicated his novel, If Beale Street Could Talk, to Joran.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
He was the godfather to his child.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
This is very, very similar to the structure of Balbin's relationship with the love of his life, Lucian Hapersberger, to whom he dedicated Giovanni's Room and was the godfather to his son.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
So initially, I went over there with really two goals.
SophieHOST
And actually, there were about 50 black writers and critics who published a statement in the New York Times Book Review, basically protesting that she hadn't won either of the two major literary prizes.
SophieHOST
Later on, Beloved, that April, beloved did win the prize and the Pulitzer that year many saw that as a response to the pressure but quite frankly it's ridiculous that she hadn't won it and then linked to that is I mean the author of one of a book that I've called the perfect novel Giovanni's Room James Baldwin which we actually used as one of our book club titles and we both were obsessed with it He never won a Pulitzer or the National Book Award either.
SophieHOST
And then he died in 1987.
SophieHOST
So this was the year before this Toni Morrison situation came to the fore.
RachelHOST
So, you know, I was really, really busy with that.
RachelHOST
So... my point being that I could be listening to garbage and not consuming books so audiobooks are books right right um anyway one such book of all these books I've read this year so yes to my therapist it was a fiction book sorry to my therapist it was not light or fun whatsoever right yes Was James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room.
RachelHOST
I
LeahHOST
feel like I've talked to you about this.
Jannah AndersonHOST
And it is this big thing that we're signalling in culture right now of what kind of person we are, what kind of intellect we have, what is our interest and taste by what book we're carrying around.
Jannah AndersonHOST
Some of the books that were brought along, Cynthia Erivo brought Giovanni's Room.
Jannah AndersonHOST
Yep.
Jannah AndersonHOST
Joe Alwyn brought James and the Giant Peach.
KristenHOST
And then she has two, which besides just being, like, the racist part, 'cause she has a James Baldwin as well on there, who's another Black author, and is also a queer author, which is, is also not the only queer author that she has on the F tier specifically.
KristenHOST
But specifically about James Baldwin, she says, "Giovanni's Room might be the most overrated piece of literature that has ever been conceived.
KristenHOST
Take away the struggle with homosexuality and you're left with nothing." Take away the main plot of the book and you're left with nothing.
KristenHOST
Oh my God, this is so profound.
KristenHOST
It's-
MariahHOST
...
MariahHOST
Giovanni's Room is about so much more.
MariahHOST
It's, it's about class.
Jared BowenHOST
This is The Culture Show.
Jared BowenHOST
Nicholas Boggs first read James Baldwin as a teenager when he borrowed his twin sister's copy of Giovanni's Room.
Jared BowenHOST
He never gave it back.
Jared BowenHOST
In college, he became reacquainted with Baldwin through a long-forgotten children's book called Little Man, Little Man.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
And at first, I was just planning on writing about that.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
I was seeking to get the children's book republished, which we did, which took several years.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
But in the process, I began to understand that there was a larger book here, and that if you stretched back from Joran Cossack to the man who introduced him to Baldwin, who was Buford Delaney, who was Baldwin's spiritual father, up through Lucienne Happersberger, who was his great love, who he dedicated Giovanni's room to, and then Engin Cesar, the Turkish actor who, in fact, played Giovanni in an actor's studio rendition of the show in Greenwich Village.
Nicholas BoggsGUEST
There was a kind of organic through-line there that happened that very naturally led to, well, yeah, a 600-page book.
Danny LaPlazaGUEST
Um, considering the shoulda part of this, this conversation again, right? He is an author that I...
Danny LaPlazaGUEST
I have Giovanni's Room at home.
JonathanHOST
Mm.
Danny LaPlazaGUEST
And I have another one of, um, his works.
Sam JayHOST
Oh, this is very, uh...
Sam JayHOST
What's the book? Um, Giovanni's Room.
Jeremy O. HarrisGUEST
Yes.
Alex EnglishHOST
Yes.
Sam JayHOST
Very Giovanni's Room.
Jeremy O. HarrisGUEST
Yes.
Jeremy O. HarrisGUEST
So she's, like, heartbroken.
Joy OladokunGUEST
The Fire Next Time is incredible.
Joy OladokunGUEST
I love Giovanni's Room.
Joy OladokunGUEST
Another Country is the greatest novel I think I've ever read for me personally.
Joy OladokunGUEST
I love The Great Gatsby.
4 more episodes mention Giovanni's Room.
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