Biography

Jean-Paul Sartre likens Jean Genet to a saint for a very particular reason, a reason that is apparent in the title of the biography, but which does not translate in the English title--"Saint Genet: Actor and Martyr"--because meaning and referentiality are lost. The French title is "Saint Genet: Comédien et Martyr"; the phrase "Saint Genet" evokes the memory of St. Genestus (known in France as Genest or Genêt), the third-century Roman actor and martyr and the patron saint of actors. Also, the word "comédien" (meaning "actor", not necessarily "comic") is used in everyday language to designate a person who shams or "puts on an act". Thus, the title itself gives one more of an impression of the author in question than it would seem on the surface. Incidentally, Genet was saved from further imprisonment by the intervention of Jean Cocteau, the famous writer, filmmaker and artist who, on the basis of Genet's first poem, declared him a literary genius. Genet, while in prison, would steal paper from the prison workshop, on which he would then write his poems and stories. He was also a playwright. There is a second biography of him know written by the famous gay novelist, Edmund White. Genet was himself gay, which helps to explain why many of his works were so controversial in the US--and none of which were controversial in Europe for that reason.