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Article: Underrated: The case for Jean Genet
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- June 19, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1995 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Jean Genet (1910-1986) wrote a handful of miraculous novels in
his late thirties and early forties after a life spent in
orphanages, reform schools and, finally, jail. A thief and
prostitute from an early age, Genet wrote of a life of vagrancy and
crime that turned conventional aesthetics on its head. His stories
of pullulating, fetishistic desire between male prison inmates
convulsed the likes of Sartre and Cocteau with admiration, and a
presidential decree, no less, was signed to release him from the
life sentence he was then serving.
In the 1950s he turned to writing plays. He directed a brilliant
short film, Un Chant d'Amour. Eschewing previous homosexual themes,
his plays concerned ...