Jean Genet(1910-1986)
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Jean-Paul Sartre likens Jean Genet to a
saint for a very particular reason, a reason that is apparent in the
title of the biography, but which does not translate in the English
title--"Saint Genet: Actor and Martyr"--because meaning and
referentiality are lost. The French title is "Saint Genet: Comédien et
Martyr"; the phrase "Saint Genet" evokes the memory of St. Genestus
(known in France as Genest or Genêt), the third-century Roman actor and
martyr and the patron saint of actors. Also, the word "comédien"
(meaning "actor", not necessarily "comic") is used in everyday language
to designate a person who shams or "puts on an act". Thus, the title
itself gives one more of an impression of the author in question than
it would seem on the surface. Incidentally, Genet was saved from
further imprisonment by the intervention of
Jean Cocteau, the famous writer, filmmaker
and artist who, on the basis of Genet's first poem, declared him a
literary genius. Genet, while in prison, would steal paper from the
prison workshop, on which he would then write his poems and stories. He
was also a playwright. There is a second biography of him know written
by the famous gay novelist, Edmund White.
Genet was himself gay, which helps to explain why many of his works
were so controversial in the US--and none of which were controversial
in Europe for that reason.
