Jean Genet biography

Jean Genet
At Writers Theatre: The Maids

Jean Genet was born in Paris on December 19, 1910, the illegitimate son of a prostitute who abandoned him to a foundling home and was later taken in by a foster family. After the death of his foster mother, his status within the family was changed to that of domestic servant. From the ages of fifteen to eighteen he repeatedly ran away from reformatory school, stole, was imprisoned and was eventually sent back to the reformatory school from which he had escaped. In March 1929, Genet enrolled in the French army and was sent to Syria. This was his first con- tact with the Arab world, to which he remained attached for the rest of his life. In 1936 he deserted the army and adopted the life of a vagabond and thief. In 1940 while in prison, he began work on Our Lady of the Flowers. When, in 1943 he was sent to an internment camp which was a known deportation centre for Nazi concentration camps, more than forty influential writers and artists, convinced of his literary genius, intervened on his behalf. He was freed in March 1944 and never returned to prison. In 1949, France's President accorded a pardon to Genet for deserting the army. In 1983, he received the National Grand Prize for Literature given by the French Ministry of Culture. On April 15, 1986 Genet died in a small hotel in Paris after falling and hitting his head. He was buried ten days later in Morocco. Although he did not begin writing until the age of thirty-two, he was one of the most productive French writers of the century. His works include poetry, novels Our Lady of the Flowers and Miracle of the Rose, the autobiographical The Thief's Journey, Querelle of Brest and Funeral Rites. He wrote six plays: Deathwatch , The Maids, The Balcony, The Blacks, The Screens and Splendid's (the manuscript of which was rediscovered only in 1993).

[Bio as of March 2009]