Miracle of the Rose

(Paperback, Main)

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Jean Genet, French playwright, novelist and poet, turned the experiences in his life amongst pimps, whores, thugs and other fellow social outcasts into a poetic literature, with an honesty and explicitness unprecedented at the time. Widely considered an outstanding and unique figure in French literature, Genet wrote five novels between 1942 and 1947, now being republished by Faber & Faber in beautiful new paperback editions.

Miracle of the Rose was Jean Genet's second novel, composed in 1943 while incarcerated in prison. The novel is informed by Genet's memories of confinement, both in prison and the Mettray reformatory where he spent three years from the age of 15. The central figure of the novel is Harcamone, whom Genet first encountered at Mettray, and who resurfaces in an adult prison - now a murderer and, in the world-turned-upside-down of Genet's vision, a quasi-divine figure.

Author Bio

Jean Genet, (born Dec. 19, 1910, Paris, France - died April 15, 1986, Paris), French criminal and social outcast turned writer who, as a novelist, transformed erotic and often obscene subject matter into a poetic vision of the universe and, as a dramatist, became a leading figure in the avant-garde theatre, especially the Theatre of the Absurd.