Swimming in the Dark

Giovanni’s Room is a 1956 novel by African American author James Baldwin. It follows the protagonist, David, as he struggles to reconcile with his sexual identity in a society shaped by anti-gay bias. Giovanni’s Room plays a key role in Swimming in the Dark both textually and metatextually: In the text, the novel helps open Ludwik’s eyes to the possibility of a relationship with another man, while metatextually, Ludwik’s and Janusz’s character arcs reflect aspects of David’s.

In Giovanni’s Room, a formative sexual experience with another man shapes David’s inner conflict and his behavior: After a sexual encounter with a man in his adolescence, David tries to suppress his true feelings and attempts to marry a woman. Like David, Ludwik has one sexual experience before he meets Janusz, and it fills him with shame and leads him to repress his identity. Janusz does not feel as much shame as Ludwik or David about his sexuality, but like David, he begins a relationship with a woman, in his case because he recognizes that adhering to his society’s heterosexual norms is the best path forward in his career.

What happens to David as Giovanni’s Room progresses suggests that Janusz’s solution cannot last forever: David has an affair with the titular Giovanni, an Italian bartender. David never heals from his internalized shame and eventually leaves Giovanni. David’s affair is similar to Ludwik and Janusz’s, as it happens in secret and comes to an end because neither character can have the life they want while in the relationship due to society’s anti-gay bias. Ludwik moves on, to live a freer life, but Janusz stays and marries Hania. In Giovanni’s Room, David, unable to bury his sexuality, is eventually caught with a man by his wife, who leaves him. The ending of David’s story suggests that though Janusz has chosen to live a lie with Hania, he will be unable to completely ignore his identity as a gay man.