"I recognize in thieves, traitors and murderers, in the ruthless and the cunning, a deep beauty-a sunken beauty." (Jean Genet)
"I'm homosexual... How and why are idle questions. It's a little like wanting to know why my eyes are green." (Jean Genet)
A nod of acknowledgement and understanding should descend upon every head that has read Querelle and is aware that Jean Genet is the author after looking at the above two quotes. Genet’s fiction might after all be a coalition of artistically twisted facts. The nod might grow more vigorous after a quick skim through even the most basic of the French writer’s biography. It is then that the acknowledgement and understanding combine into generalization that an author’s life somehow reflects through his work. It is precisely when a reader is exposed to Genet’s history that Querelle begins to strip out of its secrets. Suddenly the protagonist can be sympathized, Nono’s feminine bursts seem consistent with the plot and Genet himself could be seen between lines. Historicism plays a significant role in a greater appreciation of an artist’s composition.
Having lived a life of a criminal from the age of 10 , Genet is to a frightening degree Querelle himself. His serving at the Mettray Reformatory and his life as a thief, a burglar, and a prostitute enhances the Querelle in him. Even his hero’s name apparently has a streak of his sexual orientation as Sartre points out that Genet himself as a writer is extremely specific about names. His friend shares an account where Genet mentions how he does not like roses but cherishes the name itself. The event in which a person begins to visualize the being of a word in the word itself distinguishes Genet’s complex character, yet again adding to his g...
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Oswald, Laura. Jean Genet and the Semiotics of Performance. United States of America: Indiana University Press, 1989. Print.
Plotz, John. "Objects of abjection: The animation of difference in Jean Genet's novels." Twentieth Century Literature 44.1 (1998): 100. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. Saint Genet: Actor and Martyr. Trans. Frenchtman, Bernard. New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1963. Print.
Stewart, Harry E., and Rob Roy McGregor. "Jean Genet's `mentalite douteuse'." Romance Quarterly 39.3 (1992): 299. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 31 Mar. 2011.
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Moliere, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. "Tartuffe." The Norton Anthology Western Literature. 8th ed. Eds. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 2. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006. 19-67. Print.
However, what really frames Francine du Plessix Gray’s biography is not so much the “fin du dix huitième siècle” but the “fin du vingtième siècle” and the “reality” material from Sade’s life that made it possible to represent the Marquis, his sons, his wife, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and uncle as so many of the people who populate the running narrative of criminals, deadbeat dads, incestuous relatives, date-raping playboys, and battered women that fill soap operas, day-time talk, women’s magazines, talk radio, and the tabloids. This paper, then, explores Sade’s biography not as a narrative of (the Marquis de Sade’s) his life, but as a narrative that pleases today’s reader because it serves up a voyeur’s view of (in) his “dysfunctional” family life “at home” that we are all too familiar with. This becomes abundantly apparent when du Plessix-Gray’s rendering of the Marquis and the Marquise’s lives are superimposed over the récit of lives that we read about all the time in the popular press and observe in television soaps and other series. Ultimately, we are interested in what such a reading, writing and representation of Sade’s life does to Sade’s persona and status, both in the world of letters, but more importantly, in the world at large.
Butler, Judith. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory." Theatre Journal 40.4 (1988): 519-31. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Web. 11 May 2011.
Rochette-Crawley, S. (2004) James T. Farrell. The Literary Encyclopedia. April 2, 2004. Retrieved on May 13, 2009 from http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1487
Thinking too much of oneself can blind a person of their wrongdoings until it is too late. For instance, Armand found out after the departure of his wife and son that it was he that was not white while purging all things that reminded Armand of his family, “…Armand will never know that his mother… belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” he reads from a stray letter found in his dresser from his mom to his father (Chopin). Fortunato was lustful to death for Amontillado, despite the series of warnings concerning his health. For prime example, “In an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered” although Montresor guided him it was his greed that steered him to his demise (Poe). Both characters faced the harsh reality that their narcissistic ways ultimately ended with the presence of
The Marquis de Sade was a controversial writer from the Enlightenment period. His works were highly controversial at the time although he did acquire some sort of a cult following. The Marquis de Sade uses a variety of techniques in his writing to great effect. The passage being analysed is an extract from The Philosophy of the Bedroom published in 1795.
American Literature. 6th Edition. Vol. A. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003. 783-791
With assertive shouts and short tempers, the prominent character, Ricardo, is characterized as a feisty townsman, doing nothing except trying to protect his town and its members from the judgments of the western world. For example, the characterization of the “‘…quaint’” man is exemplified through the simplicity of his life and the fact that he is “‘…employed’” and is full of knowledge, not a “‘cow in the forest’” (55, 29, 32). Ricardo desperately wants to establish the notion that he is not a heartless, feebleminded man, only an indigent, simple man striving to protect his friends and family from the criticisms of callous cultures. Incessantly Ricardo attempts to make it clear to the photographer the irritation elicited by his prese...
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
The relationship shared by Pierre and Helene is best described as a lustful charade. It is no coincidence that Pierre, one of the most introspective characters in the novel, first marries a shallow, inwardly-ugly adulterer. His first recorded attitude towards Helene is one of admira...
Montaigne, Michel de. The Complete Essays of Montaigne. Trans. DonaldM. Frame. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1958.
Delamotte, Eugenia C. reprinted in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism Vol. 37. Ed. Paula Kepos. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1991.
Fraistat, Neil. "Broadview Press." Broadview Press :: Independent academic publishers since 1985 :: English Studies :: Zastrozzi a
Gibbs, Beverly Jean. "Impressionism as a Literary Movement." The Modern Language Journal 36.4 (1952): 175-83. JSTOR. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
Paris, Bernard J. Imagined Human Beings: A Psychological Approach to Character and Conflict in Literature. New York: New York University Press. 1997.