Jean Genet

French novelist, playwright, and poet. Born in a public maternity hospital in Paris. His mother, Gabrielle Genet, ran away, abandoning her baby. His father's name and background are unknown. He grew up as an orphan in a poor people's institution. From the age of seven, he was taken in by a farmer in the central mountain region of France, but at the age of 16, he was sent to a reformatory for theft and assault. Three years later, he escaped and wandered Spain, Italy, Poland, Germany, and other places, making a living by begging, stealing, male prostitution, and helping with smuggling. He eventually returned to France, where he was repeatedly arrested for theft and served time in prisons across France. While serving time in prison, he wrote and secretly published the poem "The Death Row" (1942) and the novel "Fragments from Notre Dame des Fleurs" (1944). Cocteau and Sartre read these and petitioned the president, and as a result, he was released from prison in 1948, and he began his life as a writer. He published a series of novels, including The Miracle of the Rose (1946), The Thrall of Brest (1947), and The Funeral (1947), as well as plays The Death Watch (1947) and The Maids (1947), a ballet libretto The Miroir Adam (1948), and an autobiographical novel The Diary of a Thief (1949), in which he used a wide range of linguistic expressions to develop magnificent reversals of values ​​between shame and glory, life and death, evil and holiness. Genet's fame soared when Sartre's critical essay "Saint Genet" (1952) was published, but he was so devastated that he was "buried alive" by Sartre's detailed analysis that he stopped writing novels. He wrote art treatises such as "The Studio of Giacometti" (1957) and "The Tightrope Walker" (1958), while devoting himself to playwriting, publishing controversial works such as "The Balcony" (1956), "The Blacks" (1958), and "The Screen" (1961). He created absurdist anti-theatre filled with strange realism, using a large number of characters, frequent scene changes, color, gestures, song, dance, and masks. "Letters to Director Blanc" (1966) is an original theory on theater, and he also wrote the screenplay "Mademoiselle" (filmed in 1966) and "Complete Poems" (1948). In his later years, he made many political and social statements, including his opinions on the American black movement and the Palestinian issue.

[Motoyoshi Sone]

"The Complete Works of Jean Genet, 4 volumes (1968, Shinchosha)" ▽ "Adam Miroir, translated by Masako Hitotsuba (1977, Kobe Books)" ▽ "Saint Genet, by Sartre, translated by Koji Shirai and Hiroyuki Hirai (1966, Jinbun Shoin)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスの小説家、劇作家、詩人。パリの公立産院で誕生。ガブリエル・ジュネという名の母親は赤ん坊を置き去りにして逃走。父親は名も素姓も不明。孤児として貧民救済施設で成長。7歳からフランス中央山岳地帯の農家に引き取られるが、16歳のとき盗みと傷害事件で感化院に送られる。3年後に脱走してスペイン、イタリア、ポーランド、ドイツなどを放浪し、乞食(こじき)、かっぱらい、男娼(だんしょう)、密輸の手伝いなどでその日暮らしを続け、やがてフランスに舞い戻り、盗みの現行犯でたびたび逮捕されてフランス各地の刑務所に服役しながら、詩編『死刑囚』（1942）、小説『花のノートル・ダム』の断章（1944）を書いて秘密出版した。これを読んだコクトーやサルトルが大統領あての請願運動をした結果、1948年出獄を許され、以後、作家生活に入った。小説『薔薇(ばら)の奇蹟(きせき)』（1946）、『ブレストの乱暴者』（1947）、『葬儀』（1947）や戯曲『死刑囚監視』（1947）、『女中たち』（1947）、バレエ台本『アダム・ミロワール』（1948）、自伝的小説『泥棒日記』（1949）を続けざまに発表し、汚辱と栄光、生と死、悪と聖性の華麗な価値転換を多彩な言語表現によって展開した。サルトルの評論『聖ジュネ』（1952）が刊行されるとジュネの名声はひときわ高くなったが、サルトルの精細を極めた分析によって「生きて埋葬され」たような打撃を受け、小説の執筆は停止し、『ジャコメッティのアトリエ』（1957）、『綱渡り芸人』（1958）などの芸術論を書きつつ劇作に没頭して、『バルコニー』（1956）、『黒んぼたち』（1958）、『屏風(びょうぶ)』（1961）の問題作を公表。多数の登場人物、頻繁な場面転換に色彩、身ぶり、歌、舞踊、仮面を配して、異様な迫真性に満ちた不条理の反演劇を創造した。『演出者ブランへの手紙』（1966）は独自の演劇論で、映画シナリオ『マドモワゼル』（映画化1966）と『全詩集』（1948）がある。晩年はアメリカ黒人運動やパレスチナ問題についての意見など政治・社会的な発言が多かった。

［曽根元吉］

『『ジャン・ジュネ全集』全4巻（1968・新潮社）』▽『一羽昌子訳『アダム・ミロワール』（1977・コーベブックス）』▽『サルトル著、白井浩司・平井啓之訳『聖ジュネ』（1966・人文書院）』

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