Jean Genet (Jean Genet, September 3, 1953-), a homosexual, is a famous contemporary French novelist, playwright, poet, critic, and social activist.
Genet was a wanderer in his early years and was arrested for theft. Later he turned to writing. He is the author of the novels "The Battle for Brest", "Diary of a Thief", "Our Lady of Flowers", and the plays "Strict Surveillance", "The Balcony", "The Black Slave", "The Screen", etc.
Genet has directed movies, and many of his works have been adapted into movies. For example, Nina Werner Fassbender made a movie called "The Battle for Brest". "The Sailor of Foggy Harbor" movie. His life is quite legendary. Abandoned by his parents when he was young, he later became a thief. He spent almost all of his teenage years wandering, stealing, and in prison. Genet believed that his crime was caused by the social environment, but this hypocritical society itself was not punished in any way, so he decided to be irreconcilable with this society. He found that writing was a more effective way of retribution, so he wrote the novels "Our Lady of Flowers" and "The Miracle of the Rose" in prison. These two works, as well as Genet's other novel "Diary of a Thief", are quite autobiographical. "Madonna of the Flowers" and "The Miracle of the Rose" are strange works in twentieth-century French literature, but they were considered "evil flowers" for a long time. Because the novel describes the most taboo issues, such as homosexuality and prison life, and vividly reveals the sinful mentality. It is not difficult to see the author's efforts towards poetic beauty in his colorful writing style. Sartre discovered something special, even noble, in the works of Jean Genet, which was his unrestrained protest against the absurd living conditions of man.
1910-1915
Let. Jean Genet was born on December 19, 1910, in the Tarnier Hospital of the Public Almshouse, No. 89, rue Assasse, Paris. Mother Camille. Gabriel. Genet was 22 years old, single, and called herself a "housekeeper." My father was still alive at the time, but "his name remains unknown." Seven months later, on July 18, 1911, the mother abandoned the child in the foundling center. There was no news from that day and she never looked back to see her biological son. On July 30 of the same year, let. Genet was adopted by a small rural craftsman named Rainier and lived in the village of Arini in the Morvan Mountains. Later, the writer mentioned this place in the novel "Our Lady of Flowers". The adoptive parents promised to raise him until he was 13 years old. He was fortunate enough to be cared for by a wet nurse, who gave him a Christian education from an early age and joined the choir of the Arini Church.
1916-1923
In September 1916, Jean. Genet entered a local school and was among the best both in character and study. But there was a teaching activity that had a huge impact on his young mind. Sixty years later, the writer talked about this in a meeting. He said: "When I was very young, I was not French, and I was not from the village. The way I knew this was extremely childish and stupid. The thing is like this: the teacher asked me to write a short essay, and each student He had to describe his own house... According to the teacher's evaluation, my description was the most exciting. He read my article aloud to the whole class, but all the classmates laughed at me and said, 'But this is not his house. He was an abandoned child. 'I suddenly felt that my heart was hollowed out and I had been humiliated...Oh! It's not very powerful, but I hate France. It should be better than hate. Deeper still, it would be an understatement to say that France disgusts me." (See "Avowed Enemy").
From then on, he started petty theft. He stole rulers and pencils from the school, and stole a few small coins from his adoptive parents to buy candies and snacks for his classmates to share. He wrote in an unpublished "Diary of a Thief": "When I was ten years old, I stole from the people I loved. I also knew that they were all poor. When people found out, they called me a thief. I thought, The word "thief" hurt me deeply."
In April 1922, my adoptive mother Eugene. Rainier died, Jean. Genet was raised by his daughter Berte. He graduated from primary school in July 1923 and ranked first in the district. This was the first and last time he received a diploma, and he never had the opportunity to receive any schooling.
1924-1929
In October 1924, he was sent to an apprentice training center in the Paris area to learn printing. But only half a month later, he ran away from the center and left a message to his friends that he was going to Egypt or America. The director of the center had noted in his report that he was as "feminine" as a girl, "had read too many adventure novels and was in a questionable mental state."
He was soon discovered in Nice, and he was sent back to the public welfare home. In the next two years, he changed hands frequently like a commodity. He worked in several workshops and farms and was treated inhumanely. It was unbearable and he escaped again and again. He dreamed of escaping France, and the police caught him at stations, trains, and port cities. He was soon sent back to Paris.
In April 1925, he was assigned to the blind composer Genet. Debixey studied poetry and art at home, but was expelled in October because he "misappropriated" and "squandered" a sum of money at a fair.
When he was 16 years old, in March 1926, he tasted the taste of imprisonment for the first time and spent three months in the cell block of Petit Roquette Prison. He was released in June. In July, he was detained for riding without a ticket and was sent to Meucheng where he was detained for 45 days.
On September 2, 1926, the court commissioned the Mettler Rural Children's Correctional Institution in Touraine to supervise him through labor until he reached adulthood.
He stayed there for two and a half years. In his opinion, this is a "prison for children's hard labor." In this children's hell, he felt "perversely happy". The novel "The Miracle of the Rose" has a lot of descriptions of life in the children's correctional institution.
1929-1935
After reaching the age of 18, let. Genet enlisted in the army. He volunteered to serve in the French Eastern Forces, arrived in Beirut on January 28, 1930, and joined the mine company stationed in Damascus, where he served as a soldier for a year. This was also his first contact with the Arab world, which foreshadowed his Arab complex in his later years.
In July 1931, he was transferred to serve in another French colonial army, the Moroccan Native Corps, and was stationed in Morocco for 19 months.
After demobilization in June 1933, he visited the great writer Gide in Paris, and then decided to make a long journey, claiming to be going to Tripolitan, Libya. He set out from Paris and walked south to Spain, but soon he could no longer walk. He wrote to Gide that he "wandered all the way from one village to another." It can be seen from the autobiographical novel "Diary of a Thief" published later that he made a living by begging and prostitution.
In April 1934, he returned to the army and signed a third service contract as a soldier in the Algerian Native Corps in Tours. During this period, he read a large number of famous works at home and abroad, and was particularly interested in the works of the great Russian writer Dostoyevsky. In October 1935, he continued to sign up for service and was transferred to the Moroccan Colonial Infantry Regiment stationed in Aix-en-Provence.
1936-1937
On June 18, 1936, Jean. Unable to bear the long wait, Genet deserted the army. In order to avoid being hunted, he had to wander all the way across Europe, which lasted a year and traveled 855 kilometers. "Diary of a Thief" is the memory and portrayal of this period of life.
Genet set out from Nice with false documents, entered the Italian border under the alias Regeti, came to Brindisi, and then took a boat to Albania, but was soon deported. He also attempted to disembark in Corfu, Greece, but failed. So he smuggled to Yugoslavia, but was arrested as soon as he arrived in Belgrade, imprisoned for a month, and then escorted to a border village, but later the police discovered him in Palermo, Italy, and he was preparing to smuggle to Africa. He squatted in the squad room for a while, and then was pushed to Austria. But he was arrested as soon as he landed in Vienna, so he was imprisoned and deported. At the end of 1936, he fled to Brno, Czechoslovakia, where he was arrested again soon, so he asked for political asylum. Under the protection of the Human Rights Association, he lived there for nearly half a year, giving French lessons to the daughter of a German Jewish doctor. The female student was named Anna. Bullock was 34 years old at the time. This was the only heterosexual relationship in his life, but he claimed it was a "white love" without sexual intercourse.
In May 1937, he started wandering again and crossed the Polish border on foot. Arrested in Katowice, Poland, and imprisoned for 14 days. After that, he passed through Hitler's Germany. He was surprised that Germany was "both a police state and a criminal state." In a country where everyone stole, he felt at ease and comfortable stealing. "Diary of a Thief" has this Unique discussion.
Then, after a short stay in Belgium, he returned to Paris, but soon planned to travel around the world. On July 28, 1937, he wrote to Anna. Bullock: "...I had no choice but to go south, towards Algeria, Niger, Congo, and then to America..."
1937-1941
September 16, 1937, He was arrested for the current crime of stealing 12 handkerchiefs from several shops in Samaritan and was sentenced to one month in prison with a suspended sentence. Three days later, the police discovered that he was carrying a pistol and a stolen identity card. He was arrested again in Paris and sentenced to five months in prison. He wrote to Anna. Bullock said: "Don't look at my miserable state deep in the cell. This state of asceticism is of course lonely. Isn't this the state that the great saints of Christianity pursue?"
< p>After investigation proves that he is a deserter, he may be sentenced to a severe sentence, but the conclusion of the psychiatric examination is in his favor (mental disorder, capriciousness, no moral sense). The authorities allowed him to retire early and sentenced him to only 2 months in prison. But things happened one after another after that. After being released in May 1938, he was arrested and imprisoned for 2 months for stealing 4 bottles of appetizer drinks in October. Released in January 1939, he was arrested in May for using a fake ticket on a train and spent 35 days in jail. Only three days after his release, he was arrested and imprisoned for 15 days for vagrancy. After returning to Paris, he was arrested for stealing a shirt and a scrap of silk from the Louvre store in October and was imprisoned for two months. He was released on December 17. Two weeks later, he stole a piece of scrap material from the city hall market and was sentenced to 10 months in prison.In December 1940, he was caught stealing books (history and philosophy books) from the Guiber bookstore on Saint-Michel Street and was imprisoned for four months.
In December 1941, he was chased by a tailor for stealing a piece of fabric, but he ran into the hands of a bookstore owner. A few days earlier, he had stolen several newly published Proust works from the bookstore. , the two cases were concurrent and sentenced to three months and one day in prison.
1942
In this year, Jean. Although Genet suffered a lot (he spent nine months in jail), it was an important "magic" year in his life, a critical year for his transformation from a small criminal to a great writer.
At the beginning of this year, he began to create "Our Lady of Flowers" in Santes Prison.
After being released in March, he set up a used bookstall on the banks of the Seine River in Paris, selling his stolen books. In April, he was arrested for stealing books and sentenced to eight months in prison in Freine. He wrote a long poem "The Death Row" in it, and then printed it at his own expense. After being released from prison in October, he managed to circulate a chapbook of his poems. His name is Francois. Sandan's little intellectual connection. One day, Sandin came to Genet's room and found a large number of manuscripts written by Genet, including novels, screenplays and movie scripts. At the end of the year, the novel "Our Lady of Flowers" was completed.
1943-1944
In February 1943, Jean. Genet's fortunes turned around. Through the introduction of two enthusiastic customers at the bookstall, he met the famous poet, novelist and playwright Jean. Cocteau. The great writer read "Our Lady of Flowers" and was initially disgusted with the vulgar content of the novel, but he soon discovered the important literary value of the novel and tried to get the book published. On March 1, Genet met with Cocteau’s secretary Paul. Morian signed his first book contract and was working on his second novel, The Miracle of the Rose.
In May, he was arrested again for stealing an out-of-print book. As a habitual offender, he was likely to be sentenced to life in exile. Cocteau hired a barrister to defend him. On the day of the trial, Genet was sentenced to only three months in prison because "the greatest writer of our time" appeared in court to support him.
On September 24, less than three weeks after his release, Genet was caught stealing books again and spent four months in a cell. At this time, "Our Lady of Flowers" was secretly published and was being bound. .
In December, he received a man named Mark in Santer Prison. A visit to the prison of Balbeza's young publisher, who soon became the main publisher of Genet's works.
In January 1944, the situation took a turn for the worse. Instead of being released, he was transferred to the Tourel labor camp as a homeless man, preparing to be sent to a concentration camp controlled by the French security forces at the time. At this critical moment, Cocteau once again used his various connections to bail Genet out. But the sentence of life-long exile was not lifted.
1944-1948
In April 1944, in Mark. A fragment of "Madonna of the Flowers" was published in the magazine "La" sponsored by Barbeza. This was the first time Genet published his work publicly, which left a deep impression on readers. In May, at Café Flor, Jean. Genet met the great writer Sartre.
On August 19, 1944, one of his closest friends, the young French resistance fighter Jean. Dekanin died in the battle to liberate Paris, and he began to write the novel "A Grand Funeral" dedicated to the martyrs.
In March 1945, "A Grand Funeral" was finished and it was immediately put into "The Battle of Brest". The collection of poems "Secret Song" was published in "奥", and the next year, "The Miracle of the Rose" was also published by the same publisher.
In 1946, Genet began to write the autobiographical novel "Diary of a Thief" and the poem "The Fisherman of Fuchs", rewrote his old play "Strict Surveillance", and invested in the script "The Maid" writing. On April 19, 1947, "The Maid" was performed at the Atne Theater. In July, two scripts were published in magazines and won the Seven Star Poetry Society Award. The collection of poems "Hard Labor" was published. In November, "A Grand Funeral" was published by Gallimard Press without a signature. In December, "The Battle of Brest" (illustrated by Cocteau
) was published by Paul. Published secretly by Morian.
On May 31, 1948, the ballet "The Mirror of Adam" was performed. "Crossbow" magazine published Jean. Genet's Collected Poems. He also began to write the play "Brilliant", but he was not allowed to put it on the stage during his lifetime. He wrote a radio script, "The Sinner," but it was banned.
In the autumn of 1948, Swiss publisher Abel. Skira secretly published the novel "Diary of a Thief", and Gallimard Publishing House, not to be outdone, also published it a few months later. According to the provisions of the criminal law, let. Genet must continue to serve his sentence. The "whole Parisian literary circle" headed by Sartre and Cocteau called on the president to pardon Genet's sentence and let... Genet's reputation grew.
1949-1954
Let. Genet's literary achievements began to be valued and recognized by literary critics.
In February 1949, the play "Strict Surveillance" was performed at the Mathilan Theater. The famous French novelist and critic Francois. Mauriac began to pay attention to the "Jean Genet phenomenon". Gallimard Publishing House is stepping up its efforts to publish "Jean. The Complete Works of Genet.
On August 12, 1949, the French president issued an amnesty order, exempting Mr. Genet was sentenced to lifelong exile.
But the writer fell into an inexplicable mental crisis, became dull and silent, and almost stopped writing for five or six years. The source of his creation comes from a dark prison. Once he escapes from the prison, he feels at a loss. He later told a reporter: "I am free, but I am lost."
In 1949, "Diary of a Thief" was officially published by Gallimard Publishing House.
In 1952, the literary master Sartre paved the way for the publication of the complete works of Genet and wrote a long preface to "Saint Genet the Comedian and Martyr", which immediately made Jean. Genet is famous all over the world. Genet felt psychologically pressured by the fact that "it's hard to live up to his reputation". He said to Cocteau: "You and Sartre made a statue of me. In fact, I am another person. This other person has something to say."
During this period, Genet's good friend Zara Accompanied by Wa, he traveled everywhere, including Italy, Germany, Algeria and Morocco. At this time, he had a soft spot for movies. In 1950 he wrote and directed the short film "Song of Love". He also wrote two film scripts: "Forbidden Dreams" and "The Penalty Prison."
1955-1961
Starting from 1955, the writer regained his creative vitality. He looked for a way out of the crisis through drama creation. Three plays were released successively, making him one of the best among modern playwrights.
In the spring of 1955, he had completed part of the manuscript of the script for "The Balcony" and began to write the script "The Black Slave".
In December, he compiled another short play "She", but "forgot" it in the publisher's drawer, and started writing "Screen". If the ideas for Genet's three scripts came quickly, the revisions were extremely difficult. The drafts of "Balcony" and "Screen" were revised four times, and "The Black Slave" was rewritten three times. Every time it was reprinted, it was revised according to the performance effects and comments from all parties, striving for artistic excellence.
"The Balcony" was staged in London in 1957.
From the end of 1957, Genet no longer lived in Paris and began to travel around the world, leaving his footprints in the Netherlands, Sweden, Corsica, Turkey, and Greece. In 1958, "Black Slave" came out. In Amsterdam, while seriously revising The Screen, he was developing a seven-book series called Death. In October, "The Black Slave" was successfully staged at the Lüdes Theater.
In 1960, "The Balcony" was finally staged in France.
1961-1967
In February 1961, "Screen" was published in "Crossbow". At this time he was 50 years old and at the peak of his glory. His books have been translated and introduced all over the world, and his plays have been performed everywhere and became a rage. He revised his old work "Prison of Convicts".
On April 16, 1966, "The Screen" was performed at the famous Odeon Theater in Paris, causing a sensation and turmoil.
1967-1972
On December 22, 1967, he began a "rebirth" trip to the Far East, staying in Japan and passing through India, Pakistan, Thailand and China.
In May 1968, a student rebellion broke out in Paris. He immediately rushed back to France from Morocco to support the student demonstrations, but refused to speak at the conference.
In August of the same year, he was invited by an American magazine to participate in a demonstration against the Vietnam War in the United States.
In November 1969, he went to Japan again to participate in a demonstration by Japanese railway employees.
He was deeply concerned about the living conditions of foreign immigrants in France. He stood with writers such as Sartre and Duras and participated in the demonstrations of foreign immigrants.
From March 1 to May 2, 1970, he supported the "Black Panther Movement" in the United States, gave lectures at various universities, published articles and statements to the news media, and called for the release of black American movement leaders.
On October 20, 1970, based on the suggestion of a Palestinian leader, let. Genet visited a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan. He was originally scheduled to stay for a week, but ended up living there for half a year. In early December, he secretly met with Arafat, obtained a pass and promised to testify for the Palestinian people.
While passing through Paris in 1971, he teamed up with a group of writers to write a book about the black fighter George. Jackson’s book, and then the book on Palestine.
In the following two years, he came to Jordan three times. But in December 1972, he was expelled from Jordan as an "inciter."
1973-1981
Because the United States refused to concede. Genet applied for an entry visa, but Jordan banned him from entering. He had to stay in France to compile a book about Palestine and African Americans, but the progress was very slow and the book was completed 10 years later.
In 1974, Jacques. Derrida published a book entitled "The Deathstroke", which systematically commented on Jean. Genet's book was recognized by critics. This year, Genet published articles sympathetic to and supporting the struggle of foreign immigrants in newspapers such as "Humanité" and once again traveled to Morocco, Turkey, Greece and other countries.
From 1976 to 1978, he spent a lot of energy on film creation, but gave up halfway.
In 1977, he wrote a preface to a book written by members of the German terrorist organization "Red Army Brigade" and published it on the front page of "Le Monde", which caused strong dissatisfaction in society and later he had to remain silent for two years. .
In 1979, he was hospitalized for throat cancer, and his body became obviously weak.
1982
From March 1982, Genet moved to Morocco.
In September of the same year, he accompanied a young Palestinian woman back to the Middle East. On the second day after arriving in Beirut, they encountered the Israeli army's invasion of the Lebanese capital. They witnessed the atrocities of the Israeli army's bloodbath in Palestinian camps. On the 19th, let. Genet was the first European witness to enter the corpse-strewn Palestinian camp of Shatila. He was so shocked that he immediately rushed back to Paris and published an important political article: "Four Hours at Chatila".
1983-1986
In July 1983, Genet wrote his last book "A Man in Love" day and night based on the notes and drafts he had written over the years. Captive" because he knew his condition was starting to get worse.
In December 1983, Jean. Genet won the Grand Prize for French Literature.
In July 1984, he returned to Jordan again to visit the people and places he was familiar with.
In August 1985, he revised the earliest script "Strict Surveillance".
In December 1985, "A Captive in Love" was completed.
At midnight on April 14, 1986, Jean. Genet died at the age of 76 and was buried in the old cemetery of the Spanish city of Larache on the northern coast of Morocco.
In May 1986, "A Captive in Love" was published by Gallimard Publishing House. People can read this intriguing sentence from the book: "My visible life is just a series of carefully disguised traps.
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