Jean Genet ( in French) (December 19, 1910 – April 15, 1986), was a French writer and later political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond (homeless person) and petty criminal. Later in life, Genet wrote novels, plays, poems, and essays, including Querelle, The Thief's Journal, Our Lady of the Flowers, The Balcony, The Blacks and The Maids.

Life 
Genet's mother was a young prostitute who put him up for adoption. After committing small crimes as a child, he was sent to the youth prison of Mettray. In the 1940s, he was a vagabond, petty thief and prostitute across Europe.

In the mid-1940s, Genet met Jean Cocteau. Cocteau helped Genet to publish his novel. By 1949 when liberated from prison through petitions of many persons including Jean Conteau and Jean-Paul Sartre, Genet had completed five novels, three plays and numerous poems. His books were banned in the United States.

Between 1955 and 1961 Genet wrote three more plays. In 1964, Genet entered a period of depression and attempted suicide. In the late 1960s, Genet became politically active. Jean Genet was gay (homosexual).

Genet developed throat cancer and died on 15 April 1986 in Paris.

Genet's works

Novels 
The first novel, Our Lady of the Flowers (1944), is an about the life in prison. His novels The Miracle of the Rose (1946) and The Thief's Journal (1949), describe his experiences in youth prison and as a male prostitute. The novel Querelle de Brest (1947) is about murder and the novel Funeral Rites (1949) is about love and betrayal. His last novel, A Prisoner of Love published in (1986), is different from his other books.

Plays 
Genet's plays were considered to be "Theater of the Absurd" plays. These plays had ideas which were similar to the ideas in existentialist ways of thinking. His plays include The Maids (1949); The Balcony (1956); The Screens (1963); The Blacks, which was staged in New York in the Off-Broadway theater.

Film 
In 1950, Genet directed a film called Un Chant d'Amour, which showed fantasies about prison life.

Bibliography

Novels and autobiography 
 Notre Dame des Fleurs (1944)
 Miracle de la Rose (1946)
 Pompes Funèbres (1947)
 Querelle de Brest (1947)
 The Thief's Journal (1949)
 Un Captif Amoureux (1986)

Theatre 
 Haute surveillance (1947) - not published until 1949
 Les Bonnes (1947)
 Le Balcon (1956)
 Les Nègres (1959)
 Les Paravents (1961)
 Le Bagne (1994), édition posthume
 Théâtre Complet   (2002) - Bibliothèque de la Pléiade "édition présentée, établie et annonté par Michel Corvin et Albert Dichy"

Poetry 
 Le Condamné à mort (1942)

Correspondence 
 Lettres à Roger Blin (1966)
 Lettres à Olga et Marc Barbezat (1988)
 Lettres au petit Franz (2000)

Complete works 
Jean Genet, Œuvres completes (Paris: Gallimard, 1952-)

 Volume 1: Saint Genet: comédien et martyr (by J.-P. Sartre)
 Volume 2: Notre-Dame des fleurs - Le condamné à mort - Miracle de la rose - Un chant d’amour
 Volume 3: Pompes funèbres - Le pêcheur du Suquet - Querelle de Brest
 Volume 4: L’étrange mot d’ ... - Ce qui est resté d’un Rembrandt déchiré en petits carrés - Le balcon - Les bonnes - Haute surveillance -Lettres à Roger Blin - Comment jouer ’Les bonnes’ - Comment jouer ’Le balcon’
 Volume 5: Le funambule - Le secret de Rembrandt - L’atelier d’Alberto Giacometti - Les nègres - Les paravents - L’enfant criminel
 Volume 6: L’ennemi déclaré: textes et entretiens

Further reading 
 Barber, Stephen (2004) Jean Genet Reaktion Books, London,  - biography and critique;
 Driver, Tom Faw (1966) Jean Genet Columbia University Press, New York;
 White, Edmund  (1993) Jean Genet Chatto and Windus, London,  - a biography;

References

Other websites 
 Genet, Jean (1910–1986)  From glbtq: Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, & Queer Culture
 Prisoner of Hate: Jean Genet and Palestine A review of Edmund White's biography of Genet by Martin Kramer
 The Ontological Priority of Violence: On Several Really Smart Things About Violence in Jean Genet's Work By William Haver
 Patrice Bougon (Président of S.A.L.G : Société des  Amis  et Lecteurs de Genet): academic research,  bibliography, papers, news, symposium

1910 births
1986 deaths
Cancer deaths in France
Deaths from throat cancer
French criminals
French LGBT people
French novelists
French playwrights
French poets
LGBT writers
Political activists
Writers from Paris