The Crime of Jean Genet

Now in paperback, The Crime of Jean Genet is a powerful personal account of the influence of one writer on another and one of the most penetrating explorations yet of Genets work and achievement. Dominique Edd met novelist and playwright Jean Genet in the 1970s. And she never forgot him. His presence, she writes, gave me the sensation of icy fire. Like his words, his gestures were full, calculated, and precise. . . . Genets movements mimicked the movement of time, accumulating rather than passing. This book is Edds account of that meeting and its ripples through her years of engaging with Genets life and work. Rooted in personal reminiscences, it is nonetheless much broader, offering a subtle analysis of Genets work and teasing out largely unconsidered themes, like the absence of the father, which becomes a metaphor for Genets perpetual attack on the law. Tying Genet to Dostoevsky through their shared fascination with crime, Edd helps us more clearly understand Genets relationship to France and Palestine, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the theater, and even death. A powerful personal account of the influence of one writer on another, The Crime of Jean Genet is also one of the most penetrating explorations yet of Genets work and achievement.