Genet jean

23922 — New York City NY: Grove Press 1966. First Edition. First Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket. New York City NY: Grove Press 1966. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 344 pages. The author's second novel. One of the greatest novels of the 20th century. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions of which there are many. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Jean Genet's "Miracle de la Rose" in the highly acclaimed English translation by Bernard Frechtman. His second masterpiece after "Our Lady of The Flowers". Visionary writing about "character" that arises directly from his lived experience Genet undermines the Classical notion of static character in all of his five novels but perhaps most emphatically so here: Character does not "develop" so much as constantly "become" anticipating as such the "performative" gender-identity perspective of our time by more than sixty years. "A phantasmagorical account of his youthful incarceration in the Mettray penal colony and subsequent imprisonment in the adult facility of Fountevrault. The author portrays Mettray as 'a womb-like hive of sunless corridors and constricting passages that both shelter the prisoners and guards and incubate their stark attempts at individual development'. The formless men of Mettray constantly meld and mesh into one another existing between mental and emotional states of absolute being and permanent dissolution and drift. Genet sees the hieratical Mettray as 'the universe itself' something he finds 'fabulous'. Surrounded by 400 other confined men many who are attractive and apparently virile young Genet searches for potential lovers and models upon whom he might base his coreless identity" J. E. Barnes. "Only a handful of 20th-century writers such as Kafka and Proust have as important as authoritative as irrevocable a voice and style" Susan Sontag. An absolute "must-have" title for Jean Genet collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing American still available online and despite its imperfection slight wear on DJ spine and corner but it's there is still in fine condition: Clean crisp and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are in multiple subsequent printings. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. SEE ALSO OTHER JEAN GENET TITLES IN OUR CATALOG. ISBN 0394174704. Grove Press hardcover