Product Description

Jean Genet: poet-thief, novelist, revolutionary, gay icon. Genet's early life was one of vagrancy and crime. He emerged in 1942 from prison with the extraordinarily subversive novel Our Lady of the Flowers. Championed by Cocteau and Sartre, Genet became a legend to the underworld for his subsequent novels, dark fusions of crime, sex and flowers. In later life he became involved with rebel groups such as the Black Panthers and the PLO.

Born To Lose, poet-novelist Jeremy Reed's stripped-down, amply illustrated biography of Genet, displays profound empathy for its subject. Reed explores Genet's novels, criminal activities, addiction to sleeping pills, relationships with lovers and rent boys, mercurial friendships, fugitive poetry and the obsession with death that underscores his work.

Customer Reviews (1)

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André Bourin nominates this a desert island title: "Parce que la poésie est tout pour moi, le premier des livres que j'emporterais est Mille et cent ans de poésie française, de Bernard Delvaille (Bouquins/ Laffont). A raison de près de 2 000 pages, c'est l'anthologie la plus complète, de la Séquence de Sainte-Eulalie (le poème du IXe siècle, «Buona pulcella fut Eulalia...», est considéré comme le premier monument de la littérature française) à Jean Genet. Je la lis très souvent. Beaucoup d'auteurs jamais cités dans les autres anthologies y figurent, Antoinette Deshoulières (1637-1694, proche des épicuriens du XVIIe siècle) ou Alphonse Esquiros (1814-1876, républicain et parlementaire), par exemple." ... Read more