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Jean Genet
An engaging and challenging introduction to Jean Genet, this concise biography of the French writer and his work cuts directly to the intersection of thought and life that was essential to Genet's creativity. Arguing that Genet's life was an extraordinary spectacle in which the themes of his most revolutionary works were played out, Stephen Barber gives both the work and its singular inspiration in Genet's life their full due.
Abandoned, arrested, and repeatedly incarcerated, Genet, who died in 1986, led a life that could best be described as a tour of the underworld of the twentieth century.
Similarly, Genet's work is recognized by its nearly obsessive and often savage treatment of certain recurring themes. Sex, desire, death, oppression, domination-these ideas, central to Genet's artistic project, can be seen as preoccupations that arose directly from the artist's travels, imprisonments, sexual and emotional relationships, and political engagements and protests. This trenchant volume focuses directly on the moments in Genet's life in which those preoccupations are vividly projected in his novels, theater works, and film projects.
Genet's works have been hugely influential for a vast array of writers, filmmakers, choreographers, and directors, especially at moments of social crisis; thus Genet's life is not only at the root of his own work but also that of many important artists of the twentieth century. With its frank and illuminating introduction by Edmund White, Jean Genet gives readers access to this brilliant and brutal mind.
Abandoned, arrested, and repeatedly incarcerated, Genet, who died in 1986, led a life that could best be described as a tour of the underworld of the twentieth century.
Similarly, Genet's work is recognized by its nearly obsessive and often savage treatment of certain recurring themes. Sex, desire, death, oppression, domination-these ideas, central to Genet's artistic project, can be seen as preoccupations that arose directly from the artist's travels, imprisonments, sexual and emotional relationships, and political engagements and protests. This trenchant volume focuses directly on the moments in Genet's life in which those preoccupations are vividly projected in his novels, theater works, and film projects.
Genet's works have been hugely influential for a vast array of writers, filmmakers, choreographers, and directors, especially at moments of social crisis; thus Genet's life is not only at the root of his own work but also that of many important artists of the twentieth century. With its frank and illuminating introduction by Edmund White, Jean Genet gives readers access to this brilliant and brutal mind.
156 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 28, 2021
Mostly of interest to those who don't know a lot about Genet. A short, dense work, and awkward. Early on I was blaming a clunky translation— until I realized that it was written in English!
Here is an example sentence from the section "Genet Fragments". This is by no means the best example of awkwardness, but this one sentence does manage however to gently mock its own content and posturing.
"He worked within the medium of the fragment with the awareness that it provided his preoccupations (themselves often concerned with the abruptness of visual and sensory revelations) with an articulatory lucidity that came from its density and the concentration of its textual elements; this kind of intentional fragmentation possessed the power to project an idea or image with shattering precision, like that contained by a cry or exclamation, though edged with the danger that such an impacted and volatile means of expression might become scrambled by an excess of its elements."
Scrambled by an excess of elements ... indeed. The point was well made.
And is it just me, or is anyone else tired of everything "interrogating" everything else? There is so much interrogation in the world now — surely this is a form of linguistic or critical torture.
Also, strangely, Barber refers to "the Lebanon" and "the Yemen"; terminology that feels quaint and outdated, but perhaps just British. But what do I know — I am from the Canada.
Here is an example sentence from the section "Genet Fragments". This is by no means the best example of awkwardness, but this one sentence does manage however to gently mock its own content and posturing.
"He worked within the medium of the fragment with the awareness that it provided his preoccupations (themselves often concerned with the abruptness of visual and sensory revelations) with an articulatory lucidity that came from its density and the concentration of its textual elements; this kind of intentional fragmentation possessed the power to project an idea or image with shattering precision, like that contained by a cry or exclamation, though edged with the danger that such an impacted and volatile means of expression might become scrambled by an excess of its elements."
Scrambled by an excess of elements ... indeed. The point was well made.
And is it just me, or is anyone else tired of everything "interrogating" everything else? There is so much interrogation in the world now — surely this is a form of linguistic or critical torture.
Also, strangely, Barber refers to "the Lebanon" and "the Yemen"; terminology that feels quaint and outdated, but perhaps just British. But what do I know — I am from the Canada.
February 26, 2013
I am not that crazy about Stephen Barber's book on Artaud, but I think his little book on Genet is a really great jem. Even Edmund White likes it - and he wrote a great biography on Genet. In fact I pretty much recommend the Reaktion Books Critical Lives series. All of them are super interesting, it not great. And this little Genet bio is pretty great.
September 7, 2009
Basically, Genet was a thief turned literary/cinema sensation by being at the right place at the right time. Europe was crumbling and its aftermath left it open for his works (some of which he wrote in prison) to be exaulted. Stephen Barber writes less scholarly in this book, taking on a more dramatic tone, which is a nice change from his other writings.
June 15, 2010
A historical account of a whore's son who was left to grow up at an orphanage. From petty shoplifter to a blackpanthers sympathiser and finally an activist for the Palestinian cause. This book is a good start to familiarise yourself with the man behind his works that are not necessarily appealing to everyone. Very bold and worthy of respect and acknowledgement.
August 6, 2011
This book is for those who always felt excruciatingly uncomfortable in Genet’s presence and yet cannot resist a certain (guilty) fascination with his life and work. The book is short and yet complete. (Fassbinder’s Querelle acquires a renewed appreciation after reading this book.)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews