The Thief’s Journal, Jean Jennet
I read this book because I'd heard of Genet from the director Todd Haynes (Poison and I'm Not There) and was also mentioned by Jean-Paul Sartre who regarded him highly. The Thief’s Journal was repudiated to be his most famous novel and I found it to be beautifully written and subversive as it was supposedly a semi-biographical account of the author's life as a convict and prostitute.
The novel's narrative explores the ugly underbelly of Parisian life and the course of journey through central Europe during the rise of fascism. Genet's portayal of faceless narrator who is almost completely lacking in identity or humanity is fascinating, as if by making things desolated and examining morality he's trying to imvert the persona of his characters and self-destructive themes. I belive this has an allegorical meaning as the prostitute moves chameleon like through the dark passages and decadence of Nazi occupied territory. Here corruption and deviance become internalized in the narrator as he escapes from persecution for his homosexuality. He writes about the evil of masculinity and homosexuality as a kind of deity and self-destructive emancipation from the oppressive behavior of civilized society.
The plot is essentially a stream of conscious, with Genet digressing upon memories and escapist fantasies towards the petty thieves and hoods he encounters.
I don't know if there's any connection to Burroughs but the author's rejection of plot, his realism and peripheral interest in history and icons draws some resemblance. I would also draw some comparisons to the unconventional characters and style of Gus Van Sant's early films Drugstore Cowboys and My Own Private Idaho which explore the psychological lifestyles of these outsider characters without moral or political judgment.
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