The Anti-aesthetics of Jean Genet: the Inversion of Ugliness, Criminality, and Evil

Jean Genet (1910 - 1986) was one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th Century. Born to a prostitute in France, Genet endured an unhappy childhood before establishing a short-lived career as a petty criminal. Ultimately, Genet became known as a controversial writer of formidable originality and frankness who excelled at writing novels, plays, and poetry. Examining the major novels and plays of Jean Genet, The Anti- Aesthetics of Jean Genet illustrates the way in which he inverts traditional aesthetic values to champion negative themes such as ugliness, criminality, and evil. This aesthetic inversion is accomplished through Genet's fluid lyricism and stylistic inventiveness. In addition to discussing the influence of Genet's homosexuality on his body of work, The Anti-Aesthetics of Jean Genet reveals some of the atypical elements of his novels and plays, along with the limitations of his anti- aesthetics.