Drew JONES, Jean Genet at the Crossroads: Blurring the Lines of Binary Opposition, Lewiston, Mellen Press, 2007, 120 p.
ISBN10 0-7734-5349-0
ISBN13 978-0-7734-5349-4
SUMMARY
This work analyzes the specific way in which certain binary oppositions are collapsed in the work of Jean Genet, the twentieth-century French writer and political activist. The way in which Genet constructed characters is essential to a proper interpretation and understanding of character traits such as homo- and heterosexuality, blackness and whiteness, masculine and feminine identity. This book approaches the operation of language in Genet’s texts through the lenses of deconstructionism, feminist theory, queer theory, and postcolonial theory. Though the work focuses on Genet, an addition to its appeal is made by the fact that it treats other major twentieth-century thinkers as well: Sartre, Derrida, Cixous, and Irigrary, among others.
CONTENTS
Preface by Lawrence R. Schehr
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Fiction/Truth: “Genet”
I. Sartre and “Genet”
II. Genêts en fleur: Derrida
2 Masculine/Feminine: Characterization and Gender Identity in Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs
I. Character Construction in Notre-Dame-des Fleurs
II. The Flaming St. Divine
3 Black/White: Feminine Forces and the Subversion of Dominant Discourse in Les Nègres
I. Feminine Writing and Subversive Mimicry
II. Playing with Mimesis: Les Nègres
III. Masculine and Feminine as Forces in Theater
4 Colonizer/Colonized: The Role of Colonial Language in Les Paravents
5 Homo/Hetero: Naming and Sexual Identity in Querelle de Brest
I. Freedom and the Evasion of Sexual Identity
II. Homosexuality as Textual Construct
Conclusion – Jean Genet: Queer
Bibliography
Index
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Drew Jones is an Assistant Professor of French at Queens College CUNY. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Dr. Jones has published articles on Jean Genet and Jean Cocteau, and is currently at work on a book which will examine the writings and political activities of gay writers in France during World War II.