Book Salon & Dinner: James Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room"Master ClassIn-Person
Tuesday, Dec 10, 2024
5:00-7:30 p.m.
New York Public Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
476 5th Ave
New York, NY 10018
The New York Public Library’s flagship location, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, is one of the Library’s premier research centers, renowned for its extraordinary historical collections and its commitment to providing free and equal access to its resources.
Three short years after the publication of his debut novel, James Baldwin was forced abroad to London in his quest to usher his second novel into print. Rejected by two editors at Knopf as a much-too-explicit sophomore effort for the young black novelist, Giovanni’s Room was initially misapprehended as simply a “homosexual novel” that would alienate his nascent black audience. The novel sketches the life and tormented desires of David, a young white American man attempting to sort out his sexuality in mid-century Paris. There are no black characters, and questions remain concerning the chief literary interventions of the novel. In this salon, Professor Rich Blint will consider the role of nationality and masculinity in Giovanni’s Room, alongside Baldwin’s insistence that the novel is principally about the enormous moral and material dangers involved in one’s inability to love. The specter of race, class, and sexuality will also be considered.
As an added treat, the Polinsky Exhibition of the NYPL’s Treasures Collection is currently featuring a special exhibit – “James Baldwin: Mountain to Fire” – that focuses on the decade during which Giovanni’s Room was written. Before the salon begins, take yourself on a self-guided tour and discover never-before-exhibited literary manuscripts—including draft pages from Go Tell It on the Mountain, Giovanni’s Room, and The Fire Next Time— presented in honor of Baldwin’s 100th birthday year.
Cost: $25 (a $60 value)
Early Booking Exclusively for Academy Fellows*
Through November 21, Fellows can purchase a ticket for $25. Space is very limited!
*You are a Fellow of The Academy for Teachers if you have been accepted to, and attended, an in-person master class.
Rich Blint
Rich Blint is co-editor of a special issue of African American Review on James Baldwin, and of the volume African American Literature in Transition, 1980-1990. He wrote the introduction and notes for Baldwin for Our Times: Writings from James Baldwin for a Time of Sorrow and Struggle. He is currently a research associate in the department of English at the University of Pennsylvania, where his upcoming books include A Radical Interiority: James Baldwin and the Personified Self in Modern American Culture, and Duppy Umbrella and Other Stories. His writing has appeared in Bomb Magazine, African American Review, James Baldwin Review, Anthropology Now, The Believer, McSweeney's, The Brooklyn Rail, sx visualities, and the A-Line: a journal of progressive thought, where he serves as editor-at-large. Curatorial projects include James Baldwin’s Global Imagination, a multi-site conference event; The Year of James Baldwin—A City-Wide Celebration; and The Devil Finds Work: James Baldwin on Film. He has held academic and administrative appointments at the New School, Columbia University, and Dartmouth College; serves on the executive board of African American Review; and is a contributing editor to James Baldwin Review.