Giovanni's Room,Baldwin's second novel, deals frankly with homosexuality in a manner daring forits time. It depicts a white American struggling to accept his homoeroticdesires. David, the protagonist, like Baldwin himself, feels alienated from hisnative country and moves to Paris in search of a freer life. In the passageBaldwin reads on this recording, David recalls a childhood sexual encounterwith another boy-an encounter that left him deeply upset and ambivalent abouthis manhood.
