The Uncompromising Morality of Jean Genet

Author(s): Henry J. Yeager

Source: The French Review, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Nov., 1965), pp. 214-219
Published by: American Association of Teachers of French
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/384807
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 The Uncompromising Morality
of Jean Genet

by Henry J. Yeager

T HE CASUAL READER finds it easy to classify Jean Genet as

merely the latest manifestation of the libertine current in French literature.
He would appear to fit quite nicely into the tradition that runs from Sade
and Rousseau to Gide and Jouhandeau.
There is one essential difference, however, between Genet and the latter.
They are apologists of evil. They attempt to justify their ideas and conduct
by fitting them into the conventional morality, and so make themselves a
part of humanity. Genet's aim is exactly the opposite. He tries to separate
himself completely from his fellow men. His dominant motivation is to
establish himself as the perfect outcast.
Joseph iM\cMahon' offers the interesting suggestion that Genet's works, at
least the earlier ones, serve a purpose similar to that of the catechism in
Christianity. That is to say, not in the simple manner of a handbook in
which certain acts are proscribed and others advocated, but rather in a
larger, philosophical sense. The catechism organizes and explains reality in
a dogmatic fashion, and it does so in such a way that all possible contin-
gencies are covered. The believer need never search elsewhere for the
explanation of any situation which might arise.
Genet's work offers us, once his initial postulates are accepted, an equally
closed system in which all experience is accounted for. One finds there all
the dogmatism of the true believer. This ordering of events in the framework
of a larger context is essential to Genet. It is necessary to give meaning to
his otherwise pointless existence. Certainly it was not Genet's intention to
write a primer for perverts, and his work should not be regarded as such.
Nevertheless, he does offer an ethic which, while not so elaborate, is as all-
encompassing as the Christian one. Gaetan Picon calls it "une sorte de
forteresse de l'anormal oif le normal ne peut plus p6n6trer." 2
1 Joseph H. McMahon, The Imagination of Jean Genet, Yale Romanic Studies,
Second Series, No. 10 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press; Paris: Presses
Universitaires de France, 1963), p. 246.
2 Gatan Picon, Panorama de la nouvelle litt6rature frangaise (Paris: Gallimard,
1960), p. 134.
214

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 GENET 215

Genet con
revolt again
those of Ch
himself an
accepts his
of the dom
and metaph
Significant
the centra
serait plus
vile, or as
one consider
of private
act than m
strikes at t
motivation
is that the
And Genet
Thus, thef
the symbol
jemmy-the
it represen
revealing p
litany of t
glar.5 The
admit in th
dreams inv
that the se
by the sam
Although
not to say
essential to
the angels
almost wor
or have ma

3 Jean-Paul
59-60.
4 Journal du voleur (Paris: Gallimard, 1949), p. 100.
6 Paris: Gallimard, 1951, p. 230.
6 see, for example, Robert Mitchell Lindner, Rebel Without a Cause, The Hypo-
analysis of a Criminal Psychopath (New York: Grune & Stratton, 1944).

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 216 FRENCH REVIEW

profonde." Furthermo
calling it a "beaute en
Besides thieves, one
mutual fascination w
cultures is well enoug
nikov and Porfiry Pet
arty and Sherlock Ho
love joining the saint
policeman and the th
existence. In a certain w
coin.
What is new with Ge
making them an esse
n')tait plus une institution sociale, mais une puissance sacr6e agissant
directement sur mon dinme" 8 (italics added). Since Genet can define him-
self only as a rebel against society, the instrument by which society main-
tains him as an outcast is vital to him. Sartre confuses cause and effect
when he says of Genet: "I1 verra dans les bourgeois ses ennemis naturel
puisque ce sont eux qui font les lois et qui commandent A la police." I The
middle class is not his enemy because it controls the police. The police ar
merely the manifestation of his being rejected by that middle class.
Genet derives a definite pleasure from the sensation of fear which the
police inspire in him. This angstlust is based not on the physical danger
which they might cause him, but rather upon the realization of his innat
irrevocable guilt. His disregard for danger is to be expected from one wh
is indifferent to the monetary benefits of his thefts: "Mais il est peu im
portant que je sache voler admirablement pour mon profit terrestre: ce
que j'ai cherch6 c'est d'6tre la conscience du vol." 10
For this reason, the French police have a more powerful effect upon him
than the police of other countries. It is precisely from French society tha
he is an outcast. Hence, it is the law enforcement institutions of that society
which are necessary to his identity. The Spanish or Polish police, for ex
ample, do not cause the same intense reaction in him as the French, even
though the crimes which he commits in their countries are of the sam
sort as those he commits in France.
Genet's simultaneous admiration for thieves and for the police leads him
to search for a synthesis of the two elements. He finds that the German

7 "The Case of Jean Genet," Commonweal, October 28, 1960, 111.

8 Journal du voleur, p. 200.
9 Saint Genet, p. 57.
10 Journal du voleur, p. 100.

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 GENET 217

police duri
institution in the service of crime.
In his own work, this synthesis appears most nearly realized in the person
of Mario in Querelle de Brest. Mario, the police detective, becomes the lover
of Querelle, the thief and murderer, whose crimes, he, Mario, is trying to
solve. Although the union is imperfect, Mario and Querelle are, after all,
two separate individuals; the fact that the two are lovers puts into relief the
mutual attraction between the two elements of society which they represent.
Mario, by participating in a sexual relationship condemned by society,
partakes of the qualities of the outcast. And Querelle, by accepting the
union, admits his admiration for the police.
Just as in Christianity there are various routes one may follow to reach
perfection, so also with Genet's mysticism. Since he tells us that one must
pass through shame to obtain glory, it is no surprise that he considers the
most foul crimes the most effective. We have already seen that he prefers
theft to any other violation of the Christian moral code. So, according to
his system, he must search for the vilest of thefts. For him it is better to
rob the poor than the rich. The parallel with Christianity is obvious-an
act of charity by a poor person is more meritorious than one by a rich man:
the parable of the widow's mite, for example.
But best of all is to steal from a buddy, another thief: witness the episode
in Journal du voleur which he calls "le crime d'Alicante." Briefly, the
protagonist suddenly decides not to return the stolen money given to him
for safe keeping by a fellow thief at the moment of the latter's arrest.
During the time that he was still intending to return the money, the pro-
tagonist realizes that what he calls "his relationship with the world" was
coming to resemble the conventional one that most men have. This had to
be avoided. He had to "purify" himself. So he tore up the money-the
ritual offering, older than Cain and Abel. And what more perfect sacrifice
in a materialistic society than money.
This act of purification, however, he finds is not enough. He carefully
glues the pieces together and uses them to pay for a sumptuous dinner.
While he is eating, he lets his thoughts dwell on the friend who originally
stole the money, and who is now starving in jail. One might push the analogy
with Christianity to the point of comparing this act with the most solemn
moment of the mass, the consecration and consummation of the host by the
priest.
Here is the purest example of Genet's morality in operation. He himself
must regard it as a key episode because he singles it out by giving it a name.
It is perhaps comparable to St. Paul's revelation on the road to Damascus.
It is important then to analyse it in detail.

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 218 FRENCH REVIEW

To begin with, the cr

miserable. The money
the hands of the pro
friend, another thief.
from the outcasts.
In another passage he explains the same idea in a different way. When he
first entered the underworld of thieves, he was disappointed to find out just
how numerous they were. Indeed, by becoming a thief he left one group
only to join another, smaller it is true, but still a group. His problem was
made more difficult by the fact that because of his chosen, willed actions
he was accepted by this latter group. He could not depend upon being ex-
cluded because of his nature as he was from the bourgeoisie. His solution
is to try to make himself a "better thief" than the others. Hence, as a sort
of archetype he would be unique and alone. Only then does he reach his
goal. This is the motivation behind his ethic. All lines with all other men
must be broken. He must be an outcast from the outcasts.
Beyond this point Genet offers us no hint as to the ultimate goal of his
moral system. The words "purification" and "liberation," as well as "rite,"
appear constantly when he tells us of his thefts. But liberation and purifica-
tion for what? Certainly he is not serving any supernatural being, god or
devil. We know only that these actions lead him toward "la lumiere."
We have already seen that the monetary profit which he obtains from
his thefts is of no importance to him. It is the act itself, and especially his
consciousness of the act which is the key to his mystical experience: "Le vol
est un acte trbs dur, tres pur, presque lumineux," 11 and "Je suis all vers le
vol comme vers une liberation, vers la lumiere." 12
One cannot deny that Genet describes his sensations during a theft as a
religious state, and the theft itself as a ritual act. He performs this rite slowly
and deliberately, as a priest, conscious of the gravity of his actions. "He
desecrates Christianity," remarks Alfred Chester, "yet his joy and bitter-
ness are devotional." 13
One concludes that the whole intent is to assert his own existence by a
positive, willed act, rather than to be acted upon passively by society. In
speaking of the jewelry stolen by Querelle, Genet tells us that "Ces bijoux
... etait la preuve de son courage et de son existence" 14 (italics added).
In the same vein, the protagonist in Miracle de la rose declares, after having

11 Ibid., p. 86.
12 Miracle de la rose, p. 266.
~3 "Looking for Genet," Commentary, April, 1964, 63.
14 Querelle de Brest (Paris: Gallimard, 1953), p. 262.

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GENET 219

stolen a pil
Finally Gen
"On se sent v
ST. JOHN'S U

15 Miracle de
1e Journal du

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