Our Lady of the Flowers
Face-to-face with the desire to touch. The book is a gesture I hold between my fingers ... a moan for the sake of a gesture (or is it a death croak, la pètite morte?) The book is a gesture I hold between my teeth. Gnawing at the wound, mouth-born paroxysms of pain. I pry the shards from crevasses of molars. Regurgitated, spit-soaked, soured by the sanguine, the little shredded book falls from my mouth into the soil. Later, a paperwhite blooms beneath the snow.
It's been weeks now, and I've been trying to figure out something, anything to say about this novel. Oh, I liked itvery much so, as my rating surely indicatesbut I keep circling around and around it, desperately searching for the detail upon which to structure and make sense of my reactions. I have to admit I still haven't found it, though there's plenty that could be rhapsodized overthe cruel beauty, the unexpected possibility of transcendence, the influential, still-avant garde style. But no,
They should give Jean Genet a kids show. You know, like Sesame Street and Barney and whatever they have now -- Dora the Explorer? Jean could teach the kids outdated pimp argot instead of Spanish! But the language thing would be extra; the reason Genet gets a kids show is that the message of this book is the same as those shows': this message being the glorious imperative to use your imagination."Use your imagination!" When you think about it, it's a bit strange that there's such an emphasis on
Utterly against my expectations, I ended up deeply moved by this work. When I first started reading it, one of my initial reactions was irritation at the apparent gay self-hate manifested in the work through statements like: because for the occasion I make myself a male who knows that he really isnt one. Or this one: Our domestic life and the law of our Homes do not resemble your Homes. We love each other without love. It all just seemed so very The Boys in the Band. It reminded me of a scene
Genet is a genious in his sensual descriptions of ruthless men. His attraction to crime and death equals his love for masculine beauty and sex. He wrote this book in jail, and in more than one way, this book released him. The first time i read it I was about twenty and it actually shook my (literary) world. He was so different from anything I'd read before (and i'd real lots of books before) that I compulsively read and reread it.
Paris, France during the 40's. Louis Culafroy, a gay boy has come out and named himself Divine. This is his story: his life as a son, male prostitute, thief, swindler, blackmailer and lover. His one true love is a pimp and a beautiful virile man called Darling Daintyfoot. Description of Darling: height, 5 ft. 9 in., weight 165 lbs., oval face, blond hair, blue-green eyes, mat complexion, perfect teeth, straight nose. Divine loves him so much that she worships Darling's cock that she has made a
Jean Genet
Paperback | Pages: 216 pages Rating: 4.02 | 5051 Users | 261 Reviews
Particularize Books Conducive To Our Lady of the Flowers
Original Title: | Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs |
ISBN: | 1596541369 (ISBN13: 9781596541368) |
Edition Language: | English |
Characters: | Louis Culafroy, Adrien Baillon |
Literary Awards: | Mikael Agricola -palkinto (1989) |
Interpretation Supposing Books Our Lady of the Flowers
Jean Genet's seminal Our Lady Of The Flowers (1943) is generally considered to be his finest fictional work. The first draft was written while Genet was incarcerated in a French prison; when the manuscript was discovered and destroyed by officials, Genet, still a prisoner, immediately set about writing it again. It isn't difficult to understand how and why Genet was able to reproduce the novel under such circumstances, because Our Lady Of The Flowers is nothing less than a mythic recreation of Genet's past and then - present history. Combining memories with facts, fantasies, speculations, irrational dreams, tender emotion, empathy, and philosophical insights, Genet probably made his isolation bearable by retreating into a world not only of his own making, but one which he had total control over.Point About Books Our Lady of the Flowers
Title | : | Our Lady of the Flowers |
Author | : | Jean Genet |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 216 pages |
Published | : | December 1st 2004 by Olympiapress.com (first published 1943) |
Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. France. LGBT. Classics. GLBT. Queer |
Rating About Books Our Lady of the Flowers
Ratings: 4.02 From 5051 Users | 261 ReviewsWeigh Up About Books Our Lady of the Flowers
Thank you Paula!Face-to-face with the desire to touch. The book is a gesture I hold between my fingers ... a moan for the sake of a gesture (or is it a death croak, la pètite morte?) The book is a gesture I hold between my teeth. Gnawing at the wound, mouth-born paroxysms of pain. I pry the shards from crevasses of molars. Regurgitated, spit-soaked, soured by the sanguine, the little shredded book falls from my mouth into the soil. Later, a paperwhite blooms beneath the snow.
It's been weeks now, and I've been trying to figure out something, anything to say about this novel. Oh, I liked itvery much so, as my rating surely indicatesbut I keep circling around and around it, desperately searching for the detail upon which to structure and make sense of my reactions. I have to admit I still haven't found it, though there's plenty that could be rhapsodized overthe cruel beauty, the unexpected possibility of transcendence, the influential, still-avant garde style. But no,
They should give Jean Genet a kids show. You know, like Sesame Street and Barney and whatever they have now -- Dora the Explorer? Jean could teach the kids outdated pimp argot instead of Spanish! But the language thing would be extra; the reason Genet gets a kids show is that the message of this book is the same as those shows': this message being the glorious imperative to use your imagination."Use your imagination!" When you think about it, it's a bit strange that there's such an emphasis on
Utterly against my expectations, I ended up deeply moved by this work. When I first started reading it, one of my initial reactions was irritation at the apparent gay self-hate manifested in the work through statements like: because for the occasion I make myself a male who knows that he really isnt one. Or this one: Our domestic life and the law of our Homes do not resemble your Homes. We love each other without love. It all just seemed so very The Boys in the Band. It reminded me of a scene
Genet is a genious in his sensual descriptions of ruthless men. His attraction to crime and death equals his love for masculine beauty and sex. He wrote this book in jail, and in more than one way, this book released him. The first time i read it I was about twenty and it actually shook my (literary) world. He was so different from anything I'd read before (and i'd real lots of books before) that I compulsively read and reread it.
Paris, France during the 40's. Louis Culafroy, a gay boy has come out and named himself Divine. This is his story: his life as a son, male prostitute, thief, swindler, blackmailer and lover. His one true love is a pimp and a beautiful virile man called Darling Daintyfoot. Description of Darling: height, 5 ft. 9 in., weight 165 lbs., oval face, blond hair, blue-green eyes, mat complexion, perfect teeth, straight nose. Divine loves him so much that she worships Darling's cock that she has made a
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