Genet, Jean (Vol. 2) - Genet, Jean 1910–

Genet, Jean 1910–

A French playwright and novelist whose amorality and perversion offend many readers, Genet is best known for Our Lady of the Flowers, The Blacks, and The Balcony. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 13-14.)

Genet is a thief; that is his truth, his eternal essence. And, if he is a thief, he must therefore always be one, everywhere, not only when he steals, but when he eats, when he sleeps, when he kisses his foster mother. Each of his gestures betrays him, reveals his vile nature in broad daylight. At any moment the teacher may interrupt the lesson, look Genet in the eyes and cry out: "There's a thief!" It would be vain for him to think he deserved leniency by admitting his errors, by mastering the perversity of his instincts. All the impulses of his heart are equally guilty because all alike express his essence. (p. 18)

Genet's dignity is the demand for evil. As a realist,...

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