SOURCE: Plunka, Gene A. “Jules Lefranc: Jean Genet's Eternal Galley Slave and Patron Saint.” University of Dayton Review 21, no. 3 (spring 1992): 17-30.

In the following essay, Plunka observes the connection between sainthood and criminality in Genet's works.

Jean Genet's life has been a constant immersion in solitude. He described the Mettray reformatory as a time “… que j'étais las de ma solitude d'enfant perdu et que mon âme appelait une mère.”¹ In Querelle de Brest, Genet, speaking through the diary of Lieutenant Seblon, explained his homoerotic love life in terms of solitude: “Ce regard sévère parfois presque soupçon neux, de justicier même, que le pédéraste attarde sur le jeune homme qu'il rencontre, c'est une brève mais intense méditation sur sa propre solitude.”² His sojourns in the 1930's were most often characterized by unsustained friendships, as well as betrayal among fellow...