Editing James Baldwin (section)

==== ''Giovanni's Room'' (1956) ====
{{main|Giovanni's Room}}
Shortly after returning to Paris in 1956, Baldwin got word from [[Dial Press]] that ''Giovanni's Room'' had been accepted for publication.{{sfn|Leeming|1994|p=121}} The book was published that autumn.<ref>{{harvnb|Leeming|1994|p=124}}; {{harvnb|Campbell|2021|p=109}}</ref>

In the novel, the protagonist David is in Paris while his fiancée Hella is in Spain. David meets the titular Giovanni at a bar; the two grow increasingly intimate and David eventually finds his way to Giovanni's room. David is confused by his intense feelings for Giovanni and has sex with a woman in the spur of the moment to reaffirm his heterosexuality. Meanwhile, Giovanni begins to prostitute himself and finally commits a murder for which he is [[guillotine]]d.{{sfn|Campbell|2021|pp=108–109}} David's tale is one of love's inhibition: he cannot "face love when he finds it", writes biographer James Campbell.{{sfn|Campbell|2021|p=109}} The novel features a traditional theme: the clash between the constraints of puritanism and the impulse for adventure and the subsequent loss of innocence that results.{{sfn|Campbell|2021|p=109}}

The inspiration for the murder in the novel's plot is an event dating from 1943 to 1944. A [[Columbia University]] undergraduate named [[Lucien Carr]] murdered an older, homosexual man, David Kammerer, who made sexual advances on Carr.{{sfn|Leeming|1994|p=133}} The two were walking near the banks of the [[Hudson River]] when Kammerer made a pass at Carr, leading Carr to stab Kammerer and dump Kammerer's body in the river.{{sfn|Campbell|2021|p=108}} To Baldwin's relief, the reviews of ''Giovanni's Room'' were positive, and his family did not criticize the subject matter.{{sfn|Leeming|1994|p=134}}