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Definition: Genet, Jean from Philip's Encyclopedia

French dramatist and novelist. His experiences as a homosexual are recounted in Our Lady of the Flowers (1944), Miracle of the Rose (1946), and The Robber's Journal (1949). A leading exponent of the Theatre of the Absurd, Genet used violent eroticism and bizarre illusion in plays such as The Maids (1947) and The Balcony (1957).


Genet, Jean

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
French dramatist, novelist, and poet. His turbulent life and early years spent in prison are reflected in his drama, characterized by ritual, role-play, and illusion, in which his characters come to act out their bizarre and violent fantasies. His plays include Les Bonnes/The Maids (1947), Le Balcon/The Balcony (1957), and two plays dealing with the Algerian situation: Les Nègres/The Blacks (1959) and Les Paravents/The Screens (1961). His novels include Notre Dame des fleurs/Our Lady of the Flowers (1944) and Miracle de la rose/Miracle of the Rose (1946), which depict a world of criminality and homosexual eroticism. Influences Genet's work has affinities with the theories of Antonin Artaud , with the Theatre of the Absurd (see Absurd, Theatre of ), and with the existentialism of the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre , although he adapts these elements to his own unique purpose and style. Themes His first play, Haute Surveillance/Deathwatch (1947), explored the erotic relationships…
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Full text Article Genet, Jean

From Philip's Encyclopedia
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Full text Article Jean Genet (1910–1986)

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
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Full text Article Genet

From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary Full text Article Biographical Names
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Full text Article Genet, Jean

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(born Dec. 19, 1910, Paris, France—died April 15, 1986, Paris) French novelist and dramatist. An illegitimate child abandoned by his mother, Genet began to write while imprisoned for burglary. His first novel, Our Lady of the Flowers (1944), portrays an underworld of thugs, pimps, and hustlers. …
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Full text Article bad faith

From Encyclopedia of Ethics
One of the lasting contributions of Jean-Paul SARTRE (1905-1980) to the philosophical vocabulary is the expression “bad faith” ( la mauvaise foi ).In common parlance it has become synonymous with SELF-DECEPTION , insincerity, or both. There is some truth to each claim yet none exhausts its proper…
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Full text Article Jean Genet 1910–86

From The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
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Full text Article Maghreb

From Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History
The historical and modern European perceptions of the geographic region of North Africa as an exotic land steeped in homoeroticism . Maghreb is an Arabic term that denotes “the place where the sun sets” and thus also the modern-day country of Morocco, being the most Western point in the Arab world…
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Full text Article ‘They are in the right because I love them’: Literature and Palestine Solidarity in the 1980s

From Edinburgh Companions to Literature and the Humanities: The Edinburgh Companion to the Postcolonial Middle East
In his introduction to After the Last Sky (1986), his collaboration with Edward Said, the photographer Jean Mohr recalls an encounter with a fellow photographer in New York in 1984. When Mohr told his acquaintance that he was working on a book about the Palestinians, the man replied, ‘Sure, why not! …
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Full text Article Pornography

From Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History
Roman Fresco from Pompeii Depicting an Erotic...
The depiction of nonnormative sex acts in written and visual forms throughout history . Images and descriptions of various forms of same-sex and opposite-sex desires and acts have existed for millennia, serving a variety of purposes over the course of human history. In some instances, they were…
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Full text Article Theater, Queer

From Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History
The Stars of the Play The Killing of Sister...
The history and current state ofgay, lesbian, and queer theater, focusing on the United Kingdom and the United States . Central to queer theater and performance is its connections with gay theater and performance; often the terms gay and queer function as synonyms in this context. Likewise, in the…
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