Jean Genet at the Crossroad : Blurring the Lines of Binary Opposition

This book, using poststructuralist approaches to literature, analyzes the specific way in which certain binary oppositions related to race, gender and sexual orientation are collapsed in the work of Jean Genet, the twentieth-century French writer and political activist.

This work will appeal to scholars interested in French literature and drama, queer theory, and twentieth-century French thought.

This work analyzes the specific way in which certain binary oppositions are collapsed in the work of Jean Genet, the twentieth-century French writer and political activist.

The way in which Genet constructed characters is essential to a proper interpretation and understanding of character traits such as homo- and heterosexuality, blackness and whiteness, masculine and feminine identity.

This book approaches the operation of language in Genet's texts through the lenses of deconstructionism, feminist theory, queer theory, and postcolonial theory.

Though the work focuses on Genet, an addition to its appeal is made by the fact that it treats other major twentieth-century thinkers as well: Sartre, Derrida, Cixous, and Irigrary, among others.