Genet's Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs: Fantasy and Sexual Identity

Author(s): Michael Lucey

Source: Yale French Studies, No. 91, Genet: In the Language of the Enemy (1997), pp. 80-102
Published by: Yale University Press
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 MICHAEL LUCEY

Genet'sNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs:
Fantasyand SexualIdentity*
Le fantasmeestle soutiendu desir,ce n'estpas l'objetqui estle
soutiendu desir.

Fantasyis thesupportofdesire;it is nottheobjectthatis thesupport

ofdesire.
-Jacques Lacan

Le problemen'estpas de decouvrir en soi la verit6de son sexe,mais

c'estplut6td'userdesormaisde sa sexualit6pourarriver a des
multiplicitesde relations.Et c'estsans doutela la vraieraisonpour
laquelle l'homosexualiten'estpas une formede desirmais quelque
chosede desirable.

The problemis notto discoverin oneselfthetruthofone'ssexbut

to arriveat a multiplicity
ratherto use sexualityhenceforth of
relationships.Andno doubtthat'stherealreasonhomosexuality is
nota formofdesirebutsomething desirable.
-Michel Foucault

JeanGenet'snovelsandplaysclearly demonstrate theextent towhich

heworked withandtheorizedtheconcept offantasyinorder tounder-
standhowitmight bothdetermine andreflect one'splacewithinsex-
ual, racial,andothersocialstructures ofidentity.The novels-and
perhaps evenmoredirectly,theplays-alsopursue, atleastimplicitly,
thequestionofwhatitmight meantointervene ina fantasy,evenatits
mostfundamentally level.Inwhatwouldsuchaninterven-
structuring
tionconsist,and whatmightit accomplish, eitheron thelevelof
personal oron thelevelofsocialrelations?1
identity In investigating
*Thanksto Katherine Bergeron,TimothyHampton,LeslieKurke,andCelesteLan-
gan forreadinga muchrougherversionofthisarticle,and pushingme towardsome
neededrefinements. Thanks,as well,to thestudentsin myGenetseminarat Berkeley
forhelpingme formulate myideas,andto ScottDurhamforeditorialsuggestions.
1. The criticwhotumstoan earlynovellikeNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs [OurLadyof
theFlowers,19431will onlysee Genetexamining fantasy'sstructural
relationto sexu-
alityandpolitics.In Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs,as in a worklikethe 1950filmUn chant

YFS 91, Genet:In theLanguageoftheEnemy,ed. Durham,X 1997byYale University.

80

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 MICHAEL LUCEY 81
the analysisoffantasyperformed in Genet'snovel,Notre-Dame-des
Fleurs,I'd liketodemonstrate a certaintension,orindecision,onethat
wouldallow me to positionGenetsomewherein a spacebetweenmy
two epigraphs:between,on the one hand, the potentialconserva-
tism-when a fantasystructuretakes on an air ofunchallengeable,
seeminglyatemporalfixity-thatmightbe adduced fromsome of
Lacan'sformulations as to thebasis ofdesireandsexualidentity2 and,
on the other,theinsistenceon a relationto unspecifiable, unfixable,
mobilefuturity thatcharacterizes someofFoucault'sformulations on
the same topic.Let me tryto reformulate thisas a question: in ac-
countingforwhatwe areable to eroticize,arewe accountableonlyto
some preestablishedfantasmaticground,or are we accountableto
somefutureconditionas well?Askingthequestionthiswayallowsus
to see a littleofwhatis at stakesociallyas well.A fantasyis socially
sedimented.How mightwe understandthe waysa fantasycould be
nourishedby,anchoredin,responsiveto,in advanceof,orleftbehind
by the historicallyand geographically specificculturein whichit is
obligedto realize itself?I would like, in what follows,to point to
Genet's conservatismin conceptualizingbothfantasy'ssocial sedi-
mentationand itsrelationto sex andidentity, andyetalso to pointto
his carefulregistering of somethingelse, somethingthatdenies an
easy,atemporalfixityto fantasyand,bydestabilizing thefantasmatic

d'amour[A SongofLove],it is difficult notto notice-and feeluncomfortable about-

theextentto whichtherelationbetweenrace andfantasy receivesnoneofthecritical
attentionGenetdevotestosexuality. Genet'scriticalreflections ontherelationbetween
race and fantasyare not clearlyarticulateduntilthe 1958playLes negres, (Isere:M.
Barbezat,1958);TheBlacks,trans.BernardFrechtman (NewYork:GrovePress,1960).
That relationwill thencontinueto preoccupyGenetthroughout the 1960s,'70s, and
'80s,through his final,posthumously publishedtext,Un captifamoureux(Paris:Galli-
mard,1986);PrisonerofLove,trans.BarbaraBray(London:PanBooks,1989).
2. The conservatism I'm referring to is quiteevidentwithinGenet'swork.Such
conservatism can certainly be adducedfromtheLacaniantext,thoughitneednotbe. (In
an earlieranalysisofGide'sLes faux-monnayeurs, forexample,I havetriedtouse some
Lacaniantheorizations ofsexualityto pointto a certainnecessarykindofinstability
withintheexperience ofsexualidentity thatI alsolookatinthepagesahead.See chapter
4 ofmyGide's Bent:Sexuality, Politics,Writing [NewYork:OxfordUniversity Press,
19951).Butanalysesthattakesome"originary fantasy" as providingthestablecontours,
thegivenform, ofa scenethatgenerates sexualidentity (whatever mobilitythe"sexual
subject"has withinthatscene)do riska certainconservatism, and Genet'sconfronta-
tionwiththatconservatism is whatinterests mehere.Forimportant discussionsofways
ofunderstanding thelinksbetweenfantasyandsexualidentity, see JudithButler,"The
Forceof Fantasy:Feminism,Mapplethorpe, and DiscursiveExcess," differences 2/2
(1990): 105-25. See also Kaja Silverman, Male Subjectivity at theMargins(NewYork:
Routledge,1992),3-8; 157-81.

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82 Yale FrenchStudies
groundon whichany sexual identitycould rest,furtherdestabilizes
therelationbetweenfantasyand its culturallocation.

BROTHERLY COUPLINGS
Considera sexualfantasythatseemsto be sharedbetweenthecharac-
terDivine and the narratorof Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs. The fantasy
providesan imageofa particularkindofnonpenetrative sexualrela-
tionbetweenmenthatis apparently legibleto-but notavailable to-
all the queer charactersin the novel; as an image,it successfully
bridgesa gapbetweenan individualdesireanda sociallylegibleformof
assigneda placein Divine'sfantasyworldand in
relation.Specifically
thatofthenarrator(fantasyworldsthatoverlapso consistently they
seem to have been formedtogetherin the same social crucible),the
following"scene" contributesto a sense that the novel provides,
throughthesame images,bothan ethnography ofa community and a
repertory ofthatcommunity's fantasies:
Toloveeachotherlike-before theyseparate-two young boxerswho
arefightingtogether [quise battent
(notwarring) (noncombattent)],
tearingoffeachother's shirts
and,oncenaked,stupefied bytheirown
beauty,thinktheyareseeingthemselves [se voirlin a mirror,
stand
therefora secondopenmouthed, shake-withrageatbeingcaught-
theirtangled a moistsmile,andcleavetoeach
hair,smile[sesourient]
other[s'etreignentj
liketwowrestlers(inGreco-Roman in-
wrestling),
terlock musclesintheprecise
their connections offeredbythemuscles
oftheother, andflopdownonto[s'affalentlthematuntiltheirwarm
sperm, spurtinghigh,mapsouton theskya milkywaywhereother
whichI canreadbecomeinscribed:
constellations theconstellationsof
theSailor,theBoxer,theCyclist, theFiddle,theSpahi,theDagger.
Thusa newmapoftheheavensis outlined on thewallofDivine's
garret,where,aftereach timemasturbating, she flingshercome.
[40/8913
3. I'm citingfromtheArabalte editionofNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs (Paris:L'Arba-
lete,1948),as reprintedin 1986.Itcontainspassagesnotpresentin eithertheGallimard
Folio(1976)ortheGallimardcEuvrescompletes(vol.2, 1951)editionsofthenovel.The
textused forbothGallimardeditionsexcisesbotha substantialnumberoflongerotic
passagesandinnumerable wordsandphrasesfromsentencesthroughout thebook.The
Arbalte 1986reprint containsmoreorless-but notexactly-thesametextas printed
in 1948. (Therewas an originaland secret1943 editionofthe novelthatI have not
consulted.)The paginationandsomepunctuation conventionsdiffer betweenthe1948
and1986Arbalkte textsI consulted,
andtherearesomevariantsonthelevelofindividual
sentences.See,onthissubject,MathieuLindon,"Genetregener6, " Lib6ration[Paris]30

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 MICHAEL LUCEY 83
Whatis thenatureofsucha "constellation"? Whoarethesetwoboxers
so carefullyenclosedin this fantasmaticdescriptionthatrelies on
threeverbforms:a thirdpersonpluralpresentthatdisallowsthem
fromdistinguishing betweenthemselves,and infinitives and present
participlesthatkeepthemenclosedwithinthisperfect moment?(The
verbsthatkeepthetwoboxersmixedup is impor-
relianceon reflexive
tantin thisregardas well,and perhapsexplainsthe narrator'soddly
stated preferencefor "se battent"instead of "combattent.")This
would seem to be an eroticscriptthatneverchanges,thatsuffers no
inflections.Can the constellationsthatDivine flingsonto her wall
thenneveroverlapor interpenetrate, nevershift?
Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs indeed sometimes suggeststhat erotic
segregated
scriptsarestrictly fromeach otherandunmodifiable. Even
thougha givenscript may be accessible to large numbers of people,
thosepeoplewill not alwaysand everywhere be entitledto rewriteit
anywaytheyplease. This scene ofthetwoboxers,forinstance,even
thoughapparently theprivatecollaborativeconstructofthe narrator
and Divine,is intimatelyrelatedto thesexualpracticesoftwo other
characters,Notre-DameandMignon.WhenMignonand Notre-Dame
meet,some thirty pagesafterDivine "constellates"theboxerson her
wall,thepairheadsofftogether to "a hotelon theAvenuede Wagram.
Wagram,battlewon by boxers!"(73/125).Inhabitantsof the fantasy
constellationwe had thoughtto be the narrator'sand Divine's,this
pairseems,as we shall see, at least initiallyto be at ease withinthe
fantasy.Theyinhabittogether-asifsatisfiedtherein-thefraternal,
nonpenetrative roles elaboratedinitiallyforus withinDivine's day-
dreams.The ease of subjectingoneselfto one's "own" fantasywill,
however, be increasinglyopento questionas thenovelproceeds.
Roughlya thirdof the way into Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs, shortly
afterthereaderfirstmeetstheeponymousheroofthenovel,thenarra-
tor-in prisonawaitingthe conclusionofhis own trial,passinghis
timeconstructing his elaboratesexual/ethnographic fantasiesabouta
bunchofMontmartre queers-tells the readerthatwhat he'd really
liketodo,butcannot(orwillnot),is toshowNotre-Dame(the"adoles-

September 1993:26. As muchas possible,I will citethepublishedEnglishtranslation:

OurLadyoftheFlowers, trans.Bernard Frechtman (NewYork:GrovePress,1963),butas
itis basedontheless completeGallimardtext,I willfrequentlyprovidemyowntransla-
tion of certainpassagesit does not include,or modifythe translationofpassagesit
reproducesin truncatedform.The firstpage numberin parenthesesis to the 1986
Arbaletetext,thesecondto theGrovepresstranslation.

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84 Yale FrenchStudies
centmurderer" ofthefollowingpassage)givingMignona blow-job.As
itturnsout,he saysthereis somethinghe cannotshowonlyas a wayof
to
getting show it:
Mingling theirgesturesinthisdream, Darling[Mignon]andOurLady
oftheFlowers [Notre-Dame] wovea brotherly
quietly How
friendship.
harditisformenottomatethetwoofthembetter, nottoarrangeitso
thatDarling, witha thrust ofthehips-rockofunconsciousness and
innocence, desperatewithjoy[desespere de bonheurl-deeply sinks
hissmooth, heavyprick, andwarmas a columninthesun,
as polished
intotheO-shaped mouthoftheadolescent murderer,crazedwithgrati-
tude[foudereconnaissance], gorgedwithsperm, "Oh,Dar-
thinking,
ling,all ofit,becauseit'syou!"
Thattoo couldbe,butwillnot.DarlingandOurLady,however
rigorous thedestinyI plotforyou,itwillneverceasetobe-in thevery
faintestway-tormented bywhatitmight alsohavebeenbutwillnot
bethankstome.[74/126-271
Wemightask a numberofquestionsofthispassage.What,we might
ask,wouldbe "better"aboutjoiningthemin a fashiondifferent from
the "brotherly friendship" thatthenarrator insistsis characteristic
of
theirrelation?Whenthenarrator saysthat it is "thanks to me" thatthe
twomenwillnotfindthemselvescoupledinanother, apparently sexier
fashion,what kind of agencyis he demonstrating? What degreeof
controldoeshe haveoverhis ownfantasy? Finally,ifthiscouplingis to
be disallowed,whyis spacegivento its verydescription?
The narrator's digressionon a virtualblow-jobthatcannot-must
not-take place betweenNotre-Dameand Mignon(becauseit would
contravene theirbrotherly nonpenetrativeness) immediately precedes
a passagewhereNotre-Dameconfessesto Mignontwofacts:thathe
has killeda man,andthathe is calledNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs. Mignon
has a confessionofhis own to make: thathe liveswitha gal,Divine,
andthatthatgalis a guy.As thenarrator putsit,"Bothofthemneededa
toextricate
rareflexibility themselveswithoutdamagefromthesnares
thatthreatened theirmutualesteem"(74/127).Thatis to say,thereis,
in these confessions,enough material to renderimpossible this
"brotherly friendship" theyare building,one thatseemsto dependon
theirsharedsense of theirproper,impenetrablemasculinities.The
confessionofthename,"Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs," is, in thisregard,
the most difficult of the three.Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs's murderous
pastconfersa certainprestige;Mignonis enoughofa mannottoworry
too muchaboutthefactthathe liveswitha queennamedDivine.But

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 MICHAEL LUCEY 85
howis Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs's masculinity, howis thepair'sbrother-
hood, to survivethe revelationthat Notre-Damehas been givena
queen's name by his buddies?It survivesonlybecause of Mignon's
delicacy,forhe sees theperilofthegendercrisisthatfacesthepairand
choosesnonethelessto pursuetheirfriendship: "Darlingrealizedthe
gravityofsucha confession, feltit so deeplythathe wonderedwhether
OurLadywas goingtopukeup pricksstickywithcome"(74/127).As if
partlycomplicitin thenarrator's avowed/disavowed desirethatNotre-
Dame-des-Fleurs be involvedin givinga blow-job,Mignonimagines
Notre-Dame'savowal of his name as equivalentto an admissionof
sexypastperformances ofthatveryact.Mignon'sdelicacyconsistsin
choosingto "ignore"Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs's sexual past as they
moveon to a fraternal future.Thatdelicacyis more,it seems,thanthe
narrator'sown desireforthemto coupleotherwisecan overcome:
Darling him,and,thebetter
drewOurLadytoward tograpple
withhim,
struggled
withhim briefly[pourle mieux etreindre,
fitavec lui une
luttel.I wouldliketodreamthembothinmanyother
courte positions
if,whenI closedmyeyes,mydreamstillobeyedmywill.Butduringthe
dayit is disturbedbyanxietyaboutmytrial,andin theevening the
preliminaries ofsleepdenudetheenvirons ofmyself, destroy objects
andepisodes, leavingmeattheedgeofsleepas solitary
as ifI werealone
onenight inthemiddleofa stormyandbarren heath.Darling, Divine,
andOurLadyfleefrom meattopspeed,taking withthemtheconsola-
tionoftheirveryexistencewithinme;fortheyarenotcontent merely
toflee;theydoawaywiththemselves, dilutethemselves intheappal-
linginsubstantialityofmydreams,orrather ofmysleep,andbecome
mysleep;theymeltintotheverystuff ofmysleepandcomposeit.
[75/1281
This passagesuggeststhatit mightnotbe exactly"thanksto me" in
any easy sense that Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs nevergives Mignon a
blow-job.In fact,it almostseemsclearthat,wereit up to thenarrator,
theblow-jobwouldhappen.Yeteventhoughthisis thenarrator's fan-
he
tasy, apparently cannotjust produceany scenariohe wants.Even
thoughthe charactersofthisnovelexistonlyin thenarrator's mind,
eventhoughtheyformhissleep,nonethelessthedreamsoccasionedby
sleepwillnotprovideeverypossibility. The novelthusseemstodistin-
guish herebetween two kindsof It is no problemforthenarra-
fantasy.
tor to fantasizeconsciouslyabout Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs fellating
Mignon.Butfora consciousfantasyto be generative withinthenovel,
it would seem to need to correspondto some otherlevel of fantasy

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86 Yale FrenchStudies
totallyimpermeableto the consciousdesiresof the narrator, and in
thatfantasyNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs and Mignonwill engagein only
brotherly couplings.It maywell be thatthe narrator's"me" deeply
dependson thatotherleveloffantasyforits own consistency. In that
case, it maywell be "thanksto me," thatis, thanksto whatI am and
am capableofimaginingbecauseofthefantasmatic groundofmyown
imagination,that certaincouplingscome to representation, while
othersfleeit.

VOUS, TU, AND THE ENDS OF EROTICISM

Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs is thusevidentlynot a novelaboutthefree-
dom offantasyevenwithina prison.Fantasyitselfprovesto have a
frustratingly complexrelationto constraint. Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs
in itsformexplicitlyinvestigates thenatureoffantasy:theconditions
of its production,the space of its elaboration,the temporalitiesit
engages,theworkit does on identitystructures. The novelhas as one
ofits generating principlesthe contrastbetweena social vous and a
personal tu. "Weidmannvous apparutdans une edition de cinq
heures,"it begins.[Weidmannappearedbeforeyou in a fiveo'clock
edition.]A fewpages later:"Le souvenirque je donnevolontiersen
paturea mesnuits,c'estle tien." [ThememorythatI gladlygiveas food
formy nightsis yours.]The novelapparently addressesitselfsimul-
taneously in two directions,and this doublingprovesto anchorthe
desiringstructure thenovelelaborates.The vousandthetuareneces-
sarilycomplicit,howeverantagonistictheirrelation.The sexualfan-
tasyofNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs is elaboratedin relationtothetu,butis
equallyclearly elaboratedin thepresenceofandundertheinfluenceof
the vous. The searchfortheplace offreedomwithinthestructure of
fantasyin thisnovelmightbe seenas a searchfora possiblerelationto
a tuindependent ofanyvous,a relationthatcouldbe thefoundation of
a new community ora setoffriendships. Such a relationwouldappar-
entlybe freeoftheconstraints ofthesocius-the spaceofthevous-
evenwhile existingwithinits space and withinits vision.Butone of
themajorobstaclesto anyrelationto a tufreeofcontamination bythe
visionofa social vouswill be theapparently unavoidablefactthatfor
Genetit is thepresenceofthevous thatprovidestheeroticismofthe
relationto the tu.4
4. Genetseemstobe usingNotre-Dame-des-Fleurstoaska versionofthequestion
Butlerasks in "Phantasmatic andtheAssumptionofSex": "How do we
Identification

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 MICHAEL LUCEY 87
addresstothevouswhenhe is
Consider,forexample,thenarrator's
describing
a momentofturmoilin Divine'srelationto Mignon:
Nosmenages, la loidenosMaisons, neressemblent pasa vosMaisons.
On s'aimesans amour. Ilsn'ont le
pas caractere Lestantes
sacramentel.
sontles grandes immorales. En un clind'oeil,apressixansd'union,
sansse croireattache, sanspenserfairemalni fairedu mal,Mignon
decidad'abandonner Divine.Sansremords, qu'unpeud'inquietude
que
peut-etreDivinene consentit plusa le revoir.
[59-601
Our domesticlives,thelaw of ourHomes,do notresemble your
Homes.Weloveeachotherwithout love.Ourhomesdonothavethe
sacramental Fagsarethegreat
character. Inthetwinkling
immoralists.
ofan eye,aftersix yearsofunion,withoutconsidering at-
himself
tached,withoutthinking thathe was causingpainordoingwrong,
DarlingdecidedtoleaveDivine.Without onlya slight
remorse, worry
thatperhapsDivinemight evertoseehimagain.[1101
refuse
Readone way,thispassagesuggestsan ethnographic bentto thewrit-
ingin Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs. I will showyou how we live,our cus-
toms,ourmorals,all withtheirownlogicdifferent fromyours,where
wordslike "love"functionwithina different signifying economy.How
wouldsucha readingofthenovel-as a representation ofthesocialand
sexualprotocolsofa particular
historicallyandgeographically situated
sexualcommunity-overlapwitha readingofthenovelas theinvesti-
gationofthelimitationsofa givenfantasy? Thatveryoverlapconsti-
tutesthegroundfora thirdkindofreadingofthenovel:as an inquiry
into the wayspersonalfantasystructuresare also social mappings.
Thatis to say,Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs confoundstwoprojects,thatof
describing theparticular
fantasythatstructures thenarrator'spsyche,
andthatofdescribing theworldin whichthatfantasystructure is able
to operate,to makesense.This productive confusionallowsthenovel
to pose thequestionas to whetherarriving at an understanding ofthe
limitationsofone's fantasystructure and evenmountingan effort to
disruptortransform thatstructurecouldcontribute toa certainkindof
social transformation.
pursuethe questionof sexualityand the law,wherethe law is not onlythatwhich
repressessexuality,
buta prohibitionthatgeneratessexualityor,at least,compelsits
Giventhatthereis no sexualityoutsideofpower,andthatpowerin its
directionality?
productive modeis neverfullyfreefromregulation,how can regulationitselfbe con-
struedas a productive
orgenerative constraint
on sexuality?"See Butler,Bodies That
Matter:On theDiscursiveLimitsof"Sex"(NewYork:Routledge, 1993),95.Ihavefound
thischapter,and Bodies ThatMattermoregenerally, immenselyhelpfulin trying to
thinkaboutGenet.

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88 Yale FrenchStudies
CertainstatementsGenetwouldmakelaterin lifewouldappearto
suggestthathe abandonedan investigation ofthe relationsbetween
eroticism,sexualidentity,andfantasybecausehe decidedthat,in fact,
pushingeroticfantasystructuresto theirlimitswas nevertransforma-
tive.In an interviewfrom1964,forinstance,Genetis askeda question
havingto do withthepoeticsofhis writing, his relationto pornogra-
phy and eroticism,his thoughtsabout censorship.The interviewer
refersto his definition
(fromPompesfunebres)ofpoetryas "theartof
employingshitand gettingpeopleto eat it." He replies:
You'verecalled formethatdefinition I oncegaveofpoetry. I wouldno
longer defineitlikethat.Ifyouwanttounderstand something-not a
lot-abouttheworld, youneedtofreeyourself from resentment.I still
feela littlebitofresentment towards society,butlessandless,andI
hopesoontobetotally freeofit.Basically,
I don'tgivea damn.Butwhen
I wrotethatI wasfeeling
resentfulandsopoetry consistedintransform-
ing materialpeoplethought vile intomaterialacceptedas noble,
through theuseoflanguage. Todaytheproblem You[vous]
is different.
nolonger interestmeas anenemy. Tenorfifteen yearsagoI wasagainst
you.NowI amneither foryounoragainst you.I aminthesametime[en
meme temps]as you,andmyproblemis no longerto opposemyselfto
youbuttodosomething inwhichwewillbecaught TodayI
uptogether.
thinkthatifpeoplearetouched bymybooks,itisbecausethey
sexually
werebadlywritten, becausethepoeticemotion
shouldbe so forceful
thatnoreader couldbemovedsexually.5

Genetherelinkstheeroticchargeofhisearlierwritings toa positionof

ressentiment inrelationtothesocialvous.This attitudecan be clearly
seen in the"Nos menages,la loi de nos Maisons,ne ressemblent pas a
vos Maisons" passage fromNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs, and in Notre-
Dame-des-Fleursmoregenerally.In the 1964 interview, Genet sug-
gestsboththatthisattitudeofressentiment groundshis earliererotic
imaginary, andthatthereis nowa differentattitudehe wouldprefer to
assume,whereeroticswouldnotfigureas heavily(ifatall),becausethe
consequencesof the eroticallybased relationto the social vous are,
uponreflection,no longerconsequenceshe wishesto pursue.This is
not to say thathe is suggestingthathe has renouncedhis famous
butratherthatthispostureshouldfinditsway
postureas hors-la-loi,
intowriting"poetically"and not "erotically."

5. Genet,"Entretien
avec MadeleineGobeil,"L'ennemid6clar6.Texteset entre-
tiens, ed. AlbertDichy (Paris: Gallimard, 1991), 17.

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 MICHAEL LUCEY 89
The ambivalenceaboutsexualityand eroticismpresentin thisin-
terviewis, I hope to show,presentin Notre-Dame-des-Fleursas well.
Thatis to say,it'snotjusta latearrivalin Genet'swork,eventhoughhe
onlyspeaksabouta radicalshiftawayformeroticismregularly in the
1960s and beyond.Perhapsthemostdirect,programmatic statement
of the ambivalencecomes in the piece "Ce qui est rested'un Rem-
brandtdechireen petitscarresbienreguliers, et foutuaux chiottes,"
publishedin 1967,in whichGenetdeclares:
Eroticismanditsfurors rejected.. . . "Erotic
seemedtomedefinitively
"areonlypossiblewhenyouimagine
quests,"I toldmyself, thateach
individualhashisownindividuality, andthatthe
thatitis irreducible,
person'sphysicalformgivesan accountofit,andonlyofit.". . . Still,I
wroteall ofthatwithout to be belabored
ceasingto be troubled, by
thoseeroticthemesthatwerefamiliar tomeandthatdominated my
life.I wassincere starting
whenI spokeofan investigation fromthis
revelation manis every
that"every othermanandI'mnodifferent"-
butI knewthatI waswriting thatas welltoridmyselfoferoticism,
to
trytodislodge me,todistance
itfrom itinanycase.6
The revelationGenet refersto here came duringan experienceof a
antierotic.He
dissolutionof the selfthathe claims was profoundly
moment
assignsthe experienceto a particular a
during trainjourney
sometimearound1953,7a momentwhenhis gaze crossesthatofan
uglyold man sittingacrossfromhim:
whatI experienced
I couldonlytranslate I wasflowing
intheseterms:
outofmybodyandthrough at thesame
myeyesintothetraveller's
time[en meme temps]thathe was flowinginto mine.... This un-
wasnotrepeated
pleasantexperience again,neitherin itsimmediacy
haveneverceasedbeingpercepti-
butitsafter-effects
noritsintensity,
blewithin inthetraincompartment
me.WhatI experienced seemedto
his
oncetheaccidents-inthiscaserepellent-of
melikea revelation:
appearancewereputaside,thismanharbored andthenletmereveal
whatmadehimidentical tome.[22-23;Genet'semphasis]
Genetrelatestheantieroticnatureofthisexperienceto a senseofthe
uglinessoftheman withwhomhe sharesa traincompartment. The
6. Genet,"Ce qui estrested'unRembrandt dechir6en petitscarresbienreguliers,
et foutuaux chiottes,"(Euvrescompletes, vol. 4 (Paris:Gallimard,1979),30-31. Fora
translationofa longpassagefromthisessay,see EdmundWhite,Genet:A Biography
(NewYork:Knopf,1993),401-03. Wherepossible,I havereliedonthistranslation, with
minormodifications.
7. Forbiographicalinformationon theevent,see White,400-03.

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90 Yale FrenchStudies
wordshe uses to describethe man in the Rembrandt essayare "sans
grace,""laids," "ignobleme~me" [graceless, even
ugly, Now to
ignoble].
anyoneused to readingGenet,used to his effort to constructa situa-
tionofextremedisgustand abjectionand thento eroticizetheobject
thatassumesthatdisgustandabjection,thereseemsnothingunusual
aboutthisscene.Itwouldseempreciselytopreparefora (poetic?)effort
to eroticizetheobjectin frontofhim.Yetsuch a tropeis refused-or
perhapsdisplaced-as Genetinsiststhatthissense ofan absoluteex-
change,a profound betweenhimselfandhis uglyfellowtrav-
identity,
eler could not be erotic.WhenGenetwrites"je m'ecoulais de mon
corps,et parles yeux,dans celui du voyageuren meme tempsque le
voyageurs'ecoulaitdans le mien," the en meme tempsofwhichhe
speaks would seem to be the same en meme temps he speaksofin the
passageI citedabovefromthe 1964interview wherehe says"mainte-
nantje ne suis ni pourvousni contrevous,je suis enmemetempsque
vous et mon problemen'est plus de m'opposera vous mais de faire
quelque choseouinous soyonsprisensemble,vous commemoi." The
enmemetempswouldthusappearto be outsideoferoticism, perhaps
evenantitheticalto it. Such,at least,is thesuggestionrenewedbythe
final words of the essay "Ce qui est reste d'un Rembrandt. . . " even
thoughthistext'sparadoxicalendingmanagesonceagainto slipin the
beenplacingat a distance:
eroticismit had apparently

ButI knewI waswritingthatas welltoridmyselfoferoticism, totryto

dislodgeit frommyself,to distanceit in any case. An erectpenis,
swollenandvibrant, thrusting outofa thicketofblack,curlyhair,and
thenwhatfollows:thickthighs,thenthetorso,theentirebody,hands,
thumbs,thentheneck,lips,teeth,nose,hair,atlasttheeyeswhichcall
out as if to be savedor annihilatedin amorouspassion,and all that
struggling againsta so fragileglancecapableperhapsofdestroyingthis
All-Powerful [et toutcela luttantcontrele si fragileregardcapable
peut-etrede detruirecetteToute-Puissance?]. [31]

For Genet, an antierotic relation gets figuredas a sustainable or sus-

tained detumescence. Sustainable or sustained since the relation of
erectionstochoiceorvolitionis necessarily vexed,importantly tiedup
withfantasy, which-as we haveseen-has its ownequallyproblem-
atic relationto volition.The erectionthatcomes,willy-nilly, at the
end of"Ce qui est rested'un Rembrandt . . . ," inextricably
boundup
with the glance thatmightbringit to an end,markspreciselythis
problemofsustainingevena theoreticalwill to denyeroticism.

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 MICHAEL LUCEY 91
The experienceof the noneroticgaze, describedin all its unsus-
tainabilityin "Ce qui est rested'un Rembrandt. . . ," has no easy
temporalrelationto theexperienceoferoticism;thatis to say,it is not
an experiencethatcomes afteran extendedexperienceof eroticism
and itsfrustrations;
it is notan experiencethateasilydisplaceseroti-
cism in some temporalsuccession.The twoexperienceshave always
been in tensionwithinGenet'swriting.Consider,forexample,a pas-
sage fromthe infamouscentralscene in Pompesfunebres(a novel
writtena fewyearsafterNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs), thefantasyofPaulo
and Hitlerhavingsex together:
"He'sgoingto killme,"thought Paulo.... Thatthought madehim
losehishard-on pensgele fitdebander]
[cette andHitlerwasstupefied
toseethemagnificent membey, beneath hisvery eyes,soften,
diminish,
melt,collapseintothehairybrown balls.He wasastonished, humili-
ated.Hisclever searched
fingers out,among thefoldsofthissoftflesh,
a
solidbase,andwithutmost carehemanaged tobringthesexbacktoits
accomplished andperfectform.Butoncehe hadit in hand,firmly
hedidn'treleaseituntilithadspitupitscome.8
gripped,

Thispassageseemsto imaginea hard-onas coercedandtoimaginethe

loss ofa hard-onas offeringan appropriate,
ifunsustainablybrief,
resis-
tantresponseto a certaineroticsforwhichthefantasyfigureofHitler
servesas foundation. Butevenbeforethiseroticsgetscomplicatedby
the specificpoliticalallegoriespresentin Pompesfunebres,a certain
resistantdetumescencehas alreadybeenfigured in Notre-Dame-des-
Fleurs-both in the characterof the old man Notre-Damehas mur-
dered,and in thecharacterofDivine herself.
Wewill see, in whatfollows,thatNotre-Dameis a character who
somehowbringstroubletotheseemingly stablefantasiesofthepeople
he encounters, justas he oftenseemshimselfyettobe fixedwithinany
fantasyof his own. But the troublehe bringswill be perhapsmore
interesting thanthetroublehe represents, eventhoughI wantto look
at both.Thatis tosay,forme,themostanalytically challenging fantas-
matictroublewithinthenovelwill occurin thewakeofNotre-Dame,
and,in particular, in thefigureofDivine,who fallsout oferoticism
because ofhim.

8. Genet,Journal du voleur,Querellede Brest,Pompesfunebres (Paris:Gallimard

[Biblosi,1993),662. This editionseemsto be themostcomplete.It containsnumerous
passages,such as thisone,not extantin theEnglishtranslation FuneralRites,trans.
Frechtman (NewYork:GrovePress,1969).

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92 Yale French Studies
DETUMESCENCE
In the scene whereNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs is sentencedto deathfor
themurderofthatold man-a scenethatunderscores thewayGenet's
politics of resentmentfinda certainfantasmaticeroticfulfillment
withinthe space ofa courtroom-Notre-Damehimselfbecomesthe
perfectspokesmanfortheeroticsoferection:
He wastrulygreat.He said:
"The old guywas washedup. He couldn'tevengeta hard-on."
[L'vieux6taitfoutu.Ypouvaitseumentpu bander.]
Thelastworddidnotpasshisjauntylittlelips.Nevertheless,
the
twelveoldmen,all together,
veryquicklyputtheirhandsovertheir
earstopreventtheentryofthewordthatwasbigas an organ,which,
findingno otherorifice,
enteredall stiff
and hotintotheirgaping
mouths. ofthetwelve
Thevirility oldmenandofthejudgewasflouted
bytheyoungster'sglorious
immodesty. [219-20/288]
But a completereadingof the novel does not sustainthe image of
Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs as a personwho easilyand consistently repre-
sents,fitsin with,orconfirms, theeroticshe speaksforat novel'send.
He mightequallywell be seen as a personaroundwhomthelimits of
thefantasythatstructures thiseroticsareforcedtorevealthemselves.
Forhe fitsonlyin themostawkwardwaysintothatfantasmatic struc-
ture:thisis alreadyrevealedin theproblemsthenarrator was having
couplinghimwithMignon.Whyshouldthisboywitha girl'snameget
to remainthemasculine,fraternal buddyofMignoninsteadof
jerk-off
assumingthe queen's role of somebodylike Divine? When,in the
courtroom, he offersas a justificationforhis crimethe factthathis
victim/client could no longergetit up,it mightseem thatwe could
then read him as havingaccomplishedan apprenticeship over the
courseofthenovel.Perhapshe has successfullyregulatedhis sexual
practiceaccordingto the narrator's own structure ofresentment, as-
similatingand incorporating intohis own fantasmaticstructure not
only that resentmentbut also the distributionof roles withinthe
queen community ofMignonandDivinethatthenoveldescribeswith
such ethnographic precision.Withtheinternalization ofthatresent-
ment would come the recognitionof the dependenceof the erotic
chargeofhis practiceson theexistenceofjudgesand juries.
Yet,as I will examinein moredetailshortly, Notre-Dameseems
also to contravenethe sexualstructures in place in Montmartre, and
provokesa crisisforDivine in so doing.Not onlythat,buthis encoun-

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 MICHAEL LUCEY 93
terwiththeold manhe killsharborsothercomplexities. Byoccurring
underthesignofdetumescence("L 'vieuxetaitfoutu.Y pouvaitseu-
mentpu bander."),theencounterbecomesa precursor to thede-eroti-
cizingscenein thetrainthatGenetwillwriteoflater-precursor, too,
in thatitis notwithoutresourcesfora suddensubsequentupsurgingof
eroticism.Afterthe murder, in a hotelroomdownthe street,Notre-
Dame makesuse ofthoseresources:
D'elle-meme,la mainde l'assassincherche sa vergequi bande.II la
caressapar-dessus le drap,doucement d'abord,avec cettelegerete
puisla serre,
d'oiseauquivolkte, l'etreint
fort;enfinil sebranle etjouit,
decharge,dansla boucheedenteeduvieillard
etrangle. II s'endort.
[6819
Allbyitselfthemurderer's
handseeksouthisstiff
penis.He strokes
it
through thesheet, atfirst,
gently withthelightnessofa fluttering
bird,
thengripsit,squeezesit hard;finally
he beatsoffand comes,dis-
charges,intothetoothlessmouthofthestrangled oldman.He falls
asleep.[119-20]
Again,therelationsbetweeneroticismandfantasy, betweenhand,
mind,andhard-on, betweeneroticismandde-eroticism, seemsimpos-
sible to unravel.It's not as ifNotre-Damedecidesto masturbate.A
hard-onand a hand-the carefulgrammarofthepassageindicates-
seemtodo thatbythemselves. Andthesentencecarefullyleavesvague
the extentto whichthemasturbation dependson an articulatedfan-
tasy.The mouthofthedead man occursin thesentencealmostas an
afterthought,as ifitstumblesintovisibility
onlyas thesentencestum-
9. The middlesentenceofthiscitationis a goodexampleoftheconfusionamong
ineach.I haveciteditfromthe1986Arbalkte
variouseditions,sinceitis different text.In
the 1948Arbalkte text,it reads:
le drap,doucementd'abord,aveccettelegeret6d'oiseau
i1la caressapar-dessus
fort;enfin,il se branleetjouit,decharge,
qui volkte,puisla serre,l'6treint croit-
il, dansla bouche6denteedu vieillard6tranglee. [1161
In thetextofboththeGallimardFolioandtheCEuvres completeseditionit reads:
i1la caressepar-dessusle drap,doucementd'abord,aveccettelegeret6d'oiseau
qui volette,puisla serre,l'etreintfort;enfinil dechargedansla boucheedent~e
du vieillardetrangle.[Folio,1071
I findthe1986Arbaleteversionthemostsuccessful. Itis clearthatthetextsofthenovels
publishedby Gallimardin theFoliocollectionand in the CEuvres completes (andthe
textsoftheEnglishtranslations madefromthese)arelamentably untrustworthy, and
shouldno longerbe used.Interestingly, thetextsofPompesfunebresand Querellede
Brestpublishedin theGallimardImaginaire andBibloscollectionsaremorecomplete
thantheversionsin theCEuvrescompletes.Unfortunately, theEnglishtranslation ap-
pearsto havebeenmadefromtheless completeversion.

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94 Yale FrenchStudies
bles througha couple ofcommasand concatenatedverbs,"jouit,de-
charge,dansla bouche,"one verbnotsufficing to bringthefantasyto
representation,theorderofdependency betweenfantasyand mastur-
bationremainingundecided.
The old manandDivinewill be linkedbythenovelin itstypically
indirect,
temporally convolutedway,wherecharacters seemsomehow
to standin forfantasmaticneeds thatone thoughtwereelaborating
themselvesat differenttimes and on entirelydistinctplanes of the
novel.DivineactuallygivesNotre-Damea notableblow-job,almostas
ifshe weretheold man.She doesn'thavea hard-onwhenshe does so.
AfterthatdetumescentscenebetweenDivine and Notre-Dameis re-
countedin the latterpart of the novel,Notre-Damewill avow in
court-in one of the novel's concludingscenes-that the old man
could nevergetit up,somethingwe didn't"know"at the "time" the
murderwas recountednearthebeginning ofthenovel.The eroticstate
ofdetumescencewithinthenovelthuslinkstogether-from a place
outsideany "progress"withinthe novel-a whole seriesof crucial
scenesthatquestionthefunctioning offantasy.
Consider,in thisregard,a longsex scene (absentfromtheEnglish
betweenDivineanda soldier,Gabriel,theArchangel.
translation) 10At
theoutsetofthatscene,Divineisplayinghard toget:"Divineslipsaway,
laughing,but her penis, thatnormally-whenhard-she can keep
hiddenbetweenherthighs,betrays her.Shegivesin" (96).Bytheendof
thescenesheis,infact,nolongerhard,andthesceneatthispointclearly
echos theencounterbetweenNotre-Dameand theold man:

10. Whitesuggests(apparently incorrectly)thatthislongsexualencounter is only

partofa "lost" earlyversionofNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs: "Buttextualevidencereveals
thatGenetprogressed fromtheexplicitly erotictotheallegoricalorpoetic.Although the
earliestknownversionofOurLadyoftheFlowersis now'lost'(presumably in a private
collection),it surfaced at an auction,and a holograph
briefly passagein Genet'shand-
writingwas printedin the catalogue.This passage,writtenat top speedwithoutera-
sures,is a highlyeroticaccountoforalsexbetweenDivineandthe'archangel' Gabriel,a
soldier.In laterversionsGenetreplacedit witha chaster,moreallegoricalpassagein
whichGabrielis comparedtoa centaurandDivinetoa nymph.Obviouslythedirection
ofmanyrevisionswas awayfromthe crudelypornographic, in keepingwithGenet's
imaginedreader, a middle-class
heterosexual man"(207).Whilethepassagein question
is notpresentin theGallimardversionofthenovel(norin theEnglishtranslation), both
it and the centaur/nymph paragraph thatfollowsit are presentin the 1948 Arbalkte
edition,and in the updated1986 Arbalte editionthatwas availableat the time of
White'swriting.White'sassumptionthatexplicitly eroticsceneshaveno rolein the
"allegorical"or "poetic" projectsof the novel also seems untenablegivenboththe
evidenttheoretical projectsofNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs andtheongoingwriting oferotic
scenesin textssuchas Pompesfunebresand Querelle.

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 MICHAEL LUCEY 95
"Ifyoudon'ttakeit,I'll strangle
you."(He'spanting.)"I'll squeeze.
Don'tmakemesqueeze,takeit."
He presses
upagainstthemouth.Itopensa bit,thencloses,with-
draws,smiles.Divine'sneckis between thehandsofthebreathless
Archangel:
"Hurryup,hurry up,oryou'redead."
Divinehasneverbeenso light,holy,so detached
from theground.
She'snolongerhard.[Ellene bandememeplus.](97;mytranslation)

One notestheextremevariability oftherelationofdetumescenceto

eroticism.The relation shiftsalmost whimsicallybetweenpossi-
bilities:detumescenceas annoying impotence(theoldmanandNotre-
Dame),detumescencearriving as partofan eroticfantasythatpushes
beyondits ownboundaries,pushesoutsideoferoticismitself(Divine
and Gabriel),detumescenceas a fearfulfallout of bothfantasyand
eroticism(PauloandHitler).It is a versionofthisfinalpossibilitythat
Notre-Damewill ultimatelyprovokein Divine.
The titlecharacterofNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs, especiallyin his re-
lationtoDivine,is thefigurethenoveluses toask mostclearlya series
ofdifficultquestionsaboutsexualidentity, anditsrelationto
itsfixity,
fantasy.It maywell be the case thatfantasyis a scene or syntaxin
whichthesubjectexistsin desubjectivized form.11Itwouldnotneces-
sarilyfollowthatin anygivenprocessofsubjectivization, anypath-
to anyeroticpossibilitythefantasyscenemightoffer-wouldbe open
to the subject.Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs makesthispointthroughthe
portrayal of a seriesof sexual confrontationswith Notre-Dame-des-
Fleurs.In theseconfrontations, othercharactersin Genet'snovel,and
especiallyDivine,findtheirownsexualidentitiesin flux,orimagine
fora momentthattheymight.The novelthuscomestopose a number
ofcomplexquestionsaboutsexualexperienceitself:is sexualexperi-
encetheplacewheresexualidentity getsdiscovered,shaped,assumed,
consolidated,continued,disrupted,or transformed? How could one

11. I amreferring
totheinfluentialformulationofJeanLaplancheandJ.-B. Pontalis:
"Fantasyis nottheobjectofdesire,butitssetting.Infantasy thesubjectdoesnotpursue
theobjectoritssign;oneappearsoneselfcaughtupinthesequenceofimages.One forms
no representation ofthedesiredobject,butis oneselfrepresented in the
as participating
scenealthough, intheearliestformsoffantasy,onecannotbe assignedanyfixedplacein
it (hencethedanger, ofinterpretations
in treatment, whichclaimto do so).As a result,
thesubject,althoughalwayspresentin thefantasy, maybe so in a desubjectivizedform,
thatis tosay,intheverysyntaxofthesequenceinquestion"("FantasyandtheOriginsof
Sexuality," in FormationsofFantasy,ed.VictorBurgin, JamesDonald,andCoraKaplan
[London:Methuen,19861,26-27).

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96 Yale FrenchStudies
decidebetweenoramongthosepossibilities? The novelneverdoes.Is a
sexualexperiencealwaysirrevocablycontainedwithina fantasystruc-
ture?Willanydesiredsexualexperiencebe entirelyassimilatedbythe
so thatdesiredsexualexperiences
syntaxofa givenfantasy, necessarily
constitutethemselvesas repetitions
ofthesamefantasmatic syntax,a
syntaxthat never shifts?ConsiderDivine's meetingwith Notre-
Dame-des-Fleurs:
Untilthismoment, shehadlovedonlymenwhowerestronger andjust
a little,
a tinybitolder,
andmoremuscularthanherself.
Butthencame
OurLadyoftheFlowers... shewassmitten withhim.... Shethought
shehadbeenvirilified. A wildhopemadeherstrong andhuskyand
vigorous. Shefeltmusclesgrowing....She triedformalegestures,
whicharerarely ofmales.Shewhistled,
thegestures putherhandsinto
herpockets, andthiswholeperformance
wascarriedoutsounskillfully
thatin thecourseofa singleevening sheseemedto be fourorfive
characters
at thesame time.... Finally,to crownhermetamorphosis
fromfemaleintotoughmale,sheimagineda man-to-man friendship
whichwouldlinkherwithoneofthosefaultless
pimpswhosegestures
couldnotbe regarded
as ambiguous.
Andto be on thesafeside,she
Marchetti.
invented [79-80;132-4]
Marchettistartsoutas an inventionofDivine,herbuddy,andonewho
will top Notre-Dameforher,providinga fantasmaticpivotaround
whichshe,as Marchetti'sbuddy, inthis"topness"in
mightparticipate
orderto be able to havea sexualrelationwithNotre-Dame.As we are
about to see, her sexual gambitdoesn't work.But her creationof
Marchettidoes.The noveltakeshimup anduses himas a character on
or
more less the sameplaneas Notre-Dame orMignonorSeckGorgui.
Buthe will becomeNotre-Dame'sbuddy,notDivine's.She'snota top.
She can'thavebuddies.(It'ssomewhatofan openquestionas to why
this"rule"carriessuchforceforDivine-when a character likeNotre-
Dame or the protagonistof a laternovel like Querelle seem to be
elaboratedin such a wayas to throwthatveryruleopento question.)
Divine thusfindsherselfin thesamepredicament as thenarrator:
she
can't alwayscouplepeople-even ones she imagines-in thewayshe
wants. Here is what happens,forinstance,when she triesto fuck
Notre-Dame:
OurLadywasnotawareofanything hewasprovoking.Onedaywhen
thetwowerealoneintheatticapartment,Divinedecided
tofuckOur
Lady,
who,amused, outofpoliteness alonginevery
played way.... She
wasaboutto stickit tohimwithherslightly
limpdick-he kepton

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 MICHAEL LUCEY 97
smiling,amused-whenthe lumpof the adolescent's hardcock,
jammedup againstherbelly, forced
Divineintoa deliriousstateshe
knewall toowell,anabandonment tomasculinity.
Sheletherselfslip,
grabbedOurLady'sdickinbothhandsand,holding itgoodandtight,
guidedit,stuckitinsideherself.
Forever itwasnowOurLady's
smiling,
turn,
mounted onher,tosaywhathehadoften heardDarling saytoher:
tome,youhaveto.". . . Divinewas
"Let'sgo,littlegirl,giveyourself
beaten.... In short, sheregained
hersoul[81;mytranslation]
It'seasyenoughtodescribewhatis goingonhere.Divinehadimagined
she mightalterhersexual identity(notterribly radically,one would
have to say),playwithherdesire,whereasthisturnedout not to be
possible,justas it turnedoutnotto be possible,in thelargernarrative
frame,forthenarrator to couple-Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs and Mignon
anyoldwayhe wanted.12YetNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs is apparentlynot
subjectto the same fixity, or at least not yet.He seems still to be
apprenticing in sexualidentity.Andto theextentthathe does assume
an identityduringthebook,it is one thatcrossescategoriesin a way
Divine (andalmosteveryothercharacter, forthatmatter)cannot.That
is to say,here,while fuckingDivine, he imitateshis buddy/mentor
Mignon,but laterin thenovel,whenhe goes out to a dragclub with
Seck and Divine,bothhe and Divine arewearingdresses:
Thedresssheathes OurLady'sbody, whichis nakedunderthesilk.He
ratherlikesthewayhelooks.... He bendsdown,turns around,looks
athimselfinthemirror.Thedress, whichhasa bustle, makeshisrump
a pairofcellos.... OurLadyis acclaimed
stickout,suggesting byhis
He
pals. hadnotrealizedthathisfirm buttockswould draw theclothso
He
tight. doesn'tgive a damn thatthey seehehas a but
hard-on, not to
sucha point,infront
ofthefellows. He wouldliketohide.He turns to
Gorgui and,slightly
pink, shows him hisbulgingdress,muttering:
"Say,Seck,letmeditchthat.". . .
Gorgui... takesthemurderer bytheshoulders, andjamshim,
squeezeshimupagainst himself,fitsinbetween hismighty thighsthe
stiff
protuberancethatis raisingthesilk.[159;219-20]
12. Cf.Butler'scommentsaboutthe"constraints" ona desiring
being:"Everysuch
beingis constrainedbynotonlywhatis difficult
toimagine,butwhatremainsradically
unthinkable:in the domainof sexualitythese constraintsinclude the radicalun-
thinkabilityofdesiringotherwise,
theradicalunendurabilityofdesiringotherwise,the
absenceofcertaindesires,therepetitivecompulsionofothers,theabidingrepudiation
ofsomesexualpossibilities,
panic,obsessionalpull,andthenexusofsexualityandpain"
("Phantasmatic Identification
and theAssumptionofSex,"94). Divine'spredicament
seemsrelatedbutdifferent:she can thinkofdesiring she can evendesireto
otherwise,
desireotherwise,butshe can'tactuallydo it.

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98 Yale FrenchStudies
Notre-Dame-des-Fleurseverywherethreatensto cross the catego-
ries of top and bottom, categories that it would seem were essential
both to Mignon and to Divine in imaginingthemselves in relation to
him. Here it is the verydress Notre-Dame hesitates to wear ("What'll
the guys say?") that provokes his erotic admiration of his own but-
tocks; in the hidingofhis own excitement,he "penetrates" Seck while
seeminglyoffering no threatto the virilityofhis mighty-thighed
part-
ner. This unpredictable crossing of top/bottom, penetrator/
penetrated,culminates in the scene, a few pages later,where, in bed
with both Seck and Divine, Notre-Dame gets fucked by Seck while
Divine fellateshim. Or,more exactly,Divine startsgivinghim a blow-
job, but then is forcedto realize that Notre-Dame-des-Fleurswants to
get fucked at the same time:
Ses mainspasserentsurles fessesde Notre-Dame,et voicique Divine
comprit.Gorguichevauchait l'assassinblondet cherchait a le p6ndtrer.
Deja sonmembreintelligent dtaitplant6,sonmembreduretgros,plus
dur et plus grosque celui de Notre-Dame,et un d6sespoirterrible,
profond, in6galablela detachadujeu desdeuxhommes.... Un furieux
mouvement s'ebranlaau-dessusde Divine.Notre-Dameavaitretrouve
sa bouche,et cettebouches'ouvritenfin,immense,terrible, pendant
que s'y6coulaitle chaudliquidedeNotre-Dame, plusvigoureux encore
parceque Gorguile baisait.... C'est la vie-, eut le tempsde penser
Divine. I1 y eut une pause,une sorted'oscillation.L'6chafaudage de
corpss'affaladansle regret.
Divineremontasa tetejusqu'al'oreiller.[Sa
rageet sa honte.]'3Elle etaitresteseule,abandon6e.Elle n'6taitplus
excit6e,etpourla premiere foiselle n'6prouvapas le besoind'alleraux
cabinetsfiniravec sa mainl'amourindiqu6.[171-72]
SheranherhandsoverOurLady'sbuttocks, andbehold!Divineunder-
stood.Gorguiwas mountingtheblondmurderer and trying to pene-
tratehim.His intelligent
member,histhickandhardmember, thicker
and harderthanOur Lady's,was alreadyin, and a terrible,
profound,
unparalleled despair detached herfromthe game ofthe two men.... A
furiousmovementstartedabove Divine. Our Lady had foundher
mouth,and thatmouthfinallyopened,hugeand terrible, while Our
Lady'swarmliquidflowedintoit,all themorevigorousbecauseGorgui
was fuckinghim. . . . "That's life," Divine had time to think. There
was a pause,a kindofoscillation.The scaffoldingofbodiescollapsed
into regret.Divine's head climbedback to the pillow.Her rage,her
shame.Shehadremainedalone,abandoned.Shewas no longerexcited,
13. This interesting sentenceis onlyto be foundin the1948Arbalete
fragmentary
:ext.

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 MICHAEL LUCEY 99
andforthefirst
time,shedidnotfeeltheneedtogotothejohntofinish
offherrequisite
lovemakingwithherhand.[233-34]
Thereis no self-evident reasonforDivinenotto findthiswayofbeing
inbedwithSeckandNotre-Dame-des-Fleurs an eroticexperience.Itis
not as if elsewherein Genet such a scene couldn'thave workedfor
everyone involved.Nor,I think,is itsufficient
tocritiqueDivine's(and
Genet's)sexualconformism: bottoms(Divine)shouldn'tmixsexually
withotherbottoms(Notre-Dame-ifthat'swhathe is).Moreinterest-
ingis to registerthe collapseoferoticismitselfforDivine,evenas it
doesn'tcollapseforNotre-Dameand Seck.
The scene itselfoffers multipleexplanationsforthe collapse,and
oneis,evidently,Divine'ssuperfluity-or notexactlythat.She'shandy
tohavearound,butthefantasythatseemstobe takingholdforNotre-
Dame and Seck is not her fantasy, and the two fantasyordersseem
rigorously exclusiveofone another.The narrator triesto explainthis
by analogyto a scene he was once told about,of a prostitutebeing
fuckedsimultaneously bytwobrothers:
Onedayheandhisbrothermadelovewitha young
whore, oneinfront,
onebehind.
Theirmovements matched Butwhentheyoung
eachother.
womantriedtokissthemouthofthebrotherlying
infrontofher,she
was ashamedto findthemouthalreadytakenbythatoftheother
Theyhadlinkedupabovethewoman's
brother. head.[172;mytransla-
tion]
The antierotic"shame" sharedbyboththewomanandDivine would
appearto resultfromtheirsuddenperceptionofnotparticipating in
thescene theyhad thoughttheywerein. As iftheythoughttheyhad
negotiatedone contractonlyto findanotheractuallyto be in force.If
forthewomanitis thetransgression ofthekissofthetwobrothers that
provokesthe shame,forDivine it is hertouchingNotre-Dame'sbut-
tocks,and realizingat thatmomentthatthetwo "buddies"she is in
bed withare also joinedin a waybuddiesaren'tsupposedto join.
To understandwhyeroticismfailsin thismoment,whyDivine's
fantasycannottakeholdorcannotbe sustainedin thefaceofthenow
penetrative fraternitySeckandNotre-Dameareelaborating aboveher,
is again to ask questionsabout the permanenceof fantasyand the
Permanence ofsexualidentityand abouttheoddunresponsiveness of
desiretowhatwe imaginewe want.Itmightseeminitiallythatall that
is registeredhereis thesamepermanenceandrigidity ofDivine's sex-
ual identitythatwe observedinherearlierfailuretofuckNotre-Dame.

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100 Yale FrenchStudies
I wouldn'tdisputethatreading,exceptto note that she is perhaps
havinganotherexperienceat thesametime:theexperienceofa neces-
sarilynostalgicrelationto what had been her own sexual identity.
WhatDivine experiences hereis whatthenarratorexperienced in one
ofthepassagesI citedat thebeginningofthisessay:his charactersrun
awayfromhim,"leavingme at theedgeofsleepas solitaryas ifI were
alone one nightin themiddleofa stormyand barrenheath.Darling,
Divine,and OurLadyfleefromme at topspeed,takingwiththemthe
consolationoftheirveryexistencewithinme; fortheyarenotcontent
merelytoflee;theydo awaywiththemselves, dilutethemselvesin the
appalling insubstantialityofmy dreams. . . ." So it is forDivine as her
eroticworldcollapses:as thebodiesofSeckandNotre-Damefallapart
aftertheirpleasure,forDivineitis thesustainability oferoticismitself
thatseemsto dissolve,fantasy itselfthatfallsintoregret:"Therewas a
pause, a kindofoscillation.The scaffolding ofbodies collapsedinto
regret."Whenwe aretoldthatDivinehadtimeto think,"That'slife,"
the time she had to thinkthatthoughtis not some quick moment
seizedduringthepostcoitalblissofhertwopartners. It's rathera mo-
mentwithinthetimeoffantasyitself,a momentwithinthatfantasy's
ownfailure,as itdissolves-in thefaceofitsownunworkability-into
rageandshame.Itis nota narrativetimein whichDivinefindsherself
thinking"That's life"; ratherit is the momentwithinan ongoing
experienceofsexualidentity wherethatidentity is feltas an obstacle,a
failure,a dispossession.
One is in theoryneverfirmlysubjectivizedin one's own fantasy;
similarly,one is neverpresentto one's own sexual identity.To the
practicalexperienceof thesetheoreticalassertions,Divine adds the
cruelexperience, whenfacedwithherunwitting participation in what
is forhera noveldistribution ofsexualrolesandidentities,ofan endof
fantasyitself.It is oftenbyimagining we couldknowtheiroriginsthat
we fantasizeaboutmodifying ourfantasies,andthereby restructuring
or abandoningour sexual identities.It is oftenby narrativizing our
identitiesthatwe expressa longingsimultaneouslyto talk our way
into and out of them.We are immenselyresourceful at figuringor
imagininga beforeoran afterto fantasyorto identity. (WithinNotre-
Dame-des-Fleurs, suchas Alberto,Solange,andErnestineoften
figures
seem to functionas partofsuchprojects.)Genet'swork,on theother
hand,when it is most interesting, mighttrace,withina particular
fantasy,theexperienceofitsinabilityto sustainitself,withina partic-
ular experienceofsexualidentitythefailureofits totalizationand a

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 MICHAEL LUCEY 101

certaininevitabilityofitstemporalcollapse.The portrayal ofDivine's

fallintothisunsettling experience-oneofuncertainbutperhapsalso
inevitableaccess, where a subject'srelationto past and to future
threatensto becomeincoherent, mightbe one ofthoseintermittent
momentswithinGenet'sworkwe mightproductively label queer.
At theoutsetofthisessay,I referred to mysenseofGenet'sconser-
vatismin conceptualizing mattersofsexualdesireand identity. I am
awareoftheoddityofinsistingon Genet'sconservatism whenhe is so
oftentakenas an icon ofvariouskindsoferoticand politicalradical-
ism,and in conclusionI'd like to specifya bitmorethefluctuations
betweeneroticconservatism and radicalismthatforme characterize
theprojectsofGenet'snovels.Forinstance,whenwe readNotre-Dame
as a characterwhobreaksopena rigidlystructured systemofsexroles
to whichDivine seems irrevocably attached,I don'tthinkwe would
bestconstruethisas a progressive movementtowarda morefriendly,
brotherly,versatileeroticfuture,inwhichDivineenduresas a relicofa
surpassedqueer eroticformation. To read thatway would certainly
allow one to place Divine as a sexual conservative, as a personwho
exemplifies Lacan'sdictum:"Fantasyis thesupportofdesire;it is not
theobjectthatis thesupportofdesire."'4Whenherfantasycollapses,
herdesiredisappears.Wemightsaythatit wasn'tNotre-Damewhom
she desired;it was thepossibility(whichbecamean impossibility) of
Notre-Damewithin a certainfantasythatsustainedhereroticworld.
We could then also choose to see Notre-Dame as exemplifying
Foucault'ssuggestionthatwe "use sexualityhenceforth to arriveat a
multiplicityof relationships,"Notre-Dameas embodyinga certain
queerindeterminacy as towhatmighthappenin bedwithwhom.Such
a readingwouldnotgofarenoughin accountingforNotre-Dame's(and
Genet's,in all thenovels)indebtedness to an eroticsofviriledomina-
tion. That eroticsenablesa largepartofthe spectacleforthe social
vous thatstructures theimplicitreadershipofthenovel-a vous fig-
uredin thejuryso overwhelmed byNotre-Dame'scourtroom appear-
ance. Likewise,such a readingdoesn'ttake into accountthe erotic
experience I havetriedtoforeground herethatseemsmostto challenge
thatsocial vous. That experienceis Divine's,at themomentfantasy,

14. JacquesLacan,Les quatreconceptsfondamentaux de la psychanalyse, in Le

sdminairede JacquesLacan, vol. 11,ed. Jacques-Alain Miller(Paris:Seuil, 1973),168.
The epigraph fromMichelFoucaultmaybe foundin "De l'amiti6commemodede vie,"
in Dits et 6crits1954-1988,vol. 4, ed. Daniel DefertandFranqoisEwald(Paris:Galli-
mard,1994),163.

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102 YaleFrenchStudies
collapses.It is an experienceof
withall its social overdeterminations,
sexualidentitybuiltupontheunstablegroundofa fantasythatnever
achievespermanence.The identity, the fantasy,and the relationbe-
tweenthemcan all on occasionbe experienced as sociallyandhistori-
callydelimited.All threecan be experiencedas bothnecessaryand in
largemeasureinaccessibleto one's self.Yet perhapsthe momentof
fantasy'scollapse,as experiencedbyDivine,holdsopenthebestpossi-
bilitywe see withinGenet'swritingfora radicalrenegotiation ofone's
relationto the variousfantasmaticinstantiationsof the vous. That
such momentsare rare,unpronounced, and evanescentwithinthe
baroqueeroticsofGenet'snovelsshouldnotblindus totheirpotential.

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