Editing Jean Genet (section)

==Genet's works==

===Novels and autobiography===
Throughout his five early novels, Genet works to subvert the traditional set of [[morality|moral values]] of his assumed readership. He celebrates a beauty in [[evil]], emphasizes his singularity, raises violent criminals to [[icon]]s, and enjoys the specificity of homosexual gesture and coding and the depiction of scenes of betrayal. ''[[Our Lady of the Flowers]]'' (''Notre Dame des Fleurs'' 1943) is a journey through the prison underworld, featuring a fictionalized alter-ego named Divine, usually referred to in the feminine. Divine is surrounded by ''tantes'' ("aunties" or "queens") with colorful sobriquets such as Mimosa I, Mimosa II, First Communion and the Queen of Rumania. The two auto-fictional novels ''[[Miracle of the Rose]]'' (''Miracle de la rose'' 1946) and ''[[The Thief's Journal]]'' (''Journal du voleur'' 1949) describe Genet's time in [[Mettray Penal Colony]] and his experiences as a vagabond and prostitute across Europe. ''[[Querelle de Brest]]'' (1947) is set in the port town of Brest, where sailors and the sea are associated with murder. ''[[Funeral Rites (novel)|Funeral Rites]]'' (1949) is a story of love and betrayal across political divides, written for the narrator's lover, Jean Decarnin, killed by the Germans in WWII.

''Prisoner of Love'', published in 1986 after Genet's death, is a memoir of his encounters with Palestinian fighters and Black Panthers. It has a more documentary tone than his fiction.

===Art criticism===
Genet wrote an essay on the work of the Swiss sculptor and artist [[Alberto Giacometti]] titled ''L'Atelier d'Alberto Giacometti''. It was highly praised by major artists, including Giacometti and Picasso. Genet wrote in an informal style, incorporating excerpts of conversations between himself and Giacometti. Genet's biographer [[Edmund White]] said that, rather than write in the style of an art historian, Genet "invented a whole new language for discussing" Giacometti, proposing "that the statues of Giacometti should be offered to the dead, and that they should be buried."<ref>Kirili, Alain. [http://bombsite.com/issues/47/articles/1760 "Edmund White"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119175851/http://bombsite.com/issues/47/articles/1760 |date=19 November 2011 }}. ''[[BOMB Magazine]]''. Spring 1994. Retrieved 25 July 2011.</ref>

===Plays===
Genet's plays present highly stylized depictions of ritualistic struggles between outcasts of various kinds and their oppressors.<ref>See Martin Esslin's book for one perspective on Genet's relationship both to [[Antonin Artaud|Artaud]]'s '[[Theatre of Cruelty]]' and to Esslin's own [[Theatre of the Absurd]]. Not all critics agree that Artaud is Genet's most significant influence; both [[Bertolt Brecht]] and [[Luigi Pirandello]] have also been identified.</ref> Social identities are parodied and shown to involve complex layering through manipulation of the dramatic fiction and its inherent potential for theatricality and role-play. Maids [[Mimesis|imitate]] one another and their mistress in ''[[The Maids]]'' (1947); the clients of a brothel simulate roles of political power before, in a dramatic reversal, actually becoming those figures, all surrounded by mirrors that both reflect and conceal, in ''[[The Balcony]]'' (1957). Most strikingly, Genet offers a critical dramatisation of what [[Aimé Césaire]] called [[negritude]] in ''[[The Blacks (play)|The Blacks]]'' (1958), presenting a violent assertion of black identity and anti-white virulence framed in terms of mask-wearing and roles adopted and discarded. His most overtly political play is ''[[The Screens]]'' (1964), an epic account of the [[Algerian War|Algerian War of Independence]]. He also wrote another full-length drama, ''Splendid's'', in 1948 and a [[one-act play]], ''Her'' (''Elle''), in 1955, though neither was published or produced during Genet's lifetime.

''[[The Maids]]'' was the first of Genet's plays to be staged in New York, produced by [[Julie Bovasso]] at Tempo Playhouse in New York City in 1955. ''[[The Blacks (play)|The Blacks]]'' was, after ''[[The Balcony]]'', the third of Genet's plays to be staged in New York. The production was the longest running [[Off-Broadway]] non-musical of the decade. Originally premiered in Paris in 1959, this 1961 New York production ran for 1,408 performances. The original cast featured [[James Earl Jones]], [[Roscoe Lee Browne]], [[Louis Gossett Jr.]], [[Cicely Tyson]], [[Godfrey Cambridge]], [[Maya Angelou]] and [[Charles Gordone]].

===Film===
In 1950, Genet directed ''[[Un Chant d'Amour]]'', a 26-minute black-and-white film depicting the fantasies of a homosexual male prisoner and his prison warden. Genet is also credited as co-director of the West German television documentary ''[[Am Anfang war der Dieb]]'' (In the Beginning was the Thief) (1984), along with his co-stars [[Hans Neuenfels]] and [[François Bondy]].

Genet's work has been adapted for film and produced by other filmmakers. In 1982, [[Rainer Werner Fassbinder]] released ''[[Querelle]]'', his final film, based on ''[[Querelle of Brest]]''. It starred [[Brad Davis (actor)|Brad Davis]], [[Jeanne Moreau]] and [[Franco Nero]]. [[Tony Richardson]] directed ''[[Mademoiselle (1966 film)|Mademoiselle]]'', which was based on a short story by Genet. It starred [[Jeanne Moreau]] with the screenplay written by [[Marguerite Duras]]. [[Todd Haynes]]' ''[[Poison (1991 film)|Poison]]'' was based on the writings of Genet.

Several of Genet's plays were adapted into films. ''[[The Balcony (film)|The Balcony]]'' (1963), directed by [[Joseph Strick]], starred [[Shelley Winters]] as Madame Irma, [[Peter Falk]], [[Lee Grant]] and [[Leonard Nimoy]]. ''[[The Maids (film)|The Maids]]'' was filmed in 1974 and starred [[Glenda Jackson]], [[Susannah York]] and [[Vivien Merchant]]. Italian director [[Salvatore Samperi]] in 1986 directed another adaptation for film of the same play, ''La Bonne'' (Eng. ''[[Corruption (1968 film)|Corruption]]''), starring [[Florence Guerin]] and Katrine Michelsen.