Picture 1 of 1
Gallery
Picture 1 of 1
Have one to sell?
Genet: A Biography by White, Edmund
by White, Edmund | HC | Acceptable
US $18.26
ApproximatelyAU $27.81
Condition:
“Missing dust jacket; Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ”... Read moreabout condition
Acceptable
A book with obvious wear. May have some damage to the cover but integrity still intact. The binding may be slightly damaged but integrity is still intact. Possible writing in margins, possible underlining and highlighting of text, but no missing pages or anything that would compromise the legibility or understanding of the text. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.
- Buy It NowGenet: A Biography by White, Edmund
Oops! Looks like we're having trouble connecting to our server.
Refresh your browser window to try again.
Postage:
Free Economy Shipping.
Estimated between Wed, 30 Jul and Sat, 2 Aug to 94104
Located in: Aurora, Illinois, United States
Returns:
30-day returns. Seller pays for return postage.
Payments:
Shop with confidence
Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.
eBay item number:146496367033
Item specifics
- Condition
- Acceptable
- Seller notes
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Weight
- 2 lbs
- Product Group
- Book
- IsTextBook
- No
- ISBN
- 9780394571713
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
ISBN-10
0394571711
ISBN-13
9780394571713
eBay Product ID (ePID)
901221
Product Key Features
Book Title
Genet : a Biography
Number of Pages
Xlii, 728 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
1993
Topic
European / French
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Literary Criticism, Non-Classifiable
Format
Hardcover
Dimensions
Item Weight
46.8 Oz
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
93-018234
Reviews
'Dazzling. Genet has found a scrupulous, meticulous chronicler in Edmund White.' -- Philip Henscher, The Guardian 'An absorbing and magisterial biography...a labor of love in every sense. A comparable achievement [is] Richard Ellmann's biography of Oscar Wilde.' -- John Bayley, The Evening Standard 'Elegant, meticulous and wholly satisfying.' -- Brian Masters, The Sunday telegraph 'White has caught the uncatchable man -- the public Genet as well as the recluse: no better praise can be given a biographer.' -- Paul Bailey, The Daily Telegraph
Dewey Edition
20
Dewey Decimal
848/.91209 B
Synopsis
In this revelatory biography of Jean Genet, we have the first full-scale life of one of the great -- and controversial -- figures of twentieth-century literature. Edmund White shows us the writer in all his permutations: poet, dandy, homosexual, thief; a 'thug of genius', as Simone de Beauvoir called him. Moving from Genet's illegitimate birth in 1910 to his foster childhood in a farming village in central France, Edmund White explores the early milieu that transformed an inherently theatrical child into a petty criminal and prodigiously original writer, whose most startling creation may have been his invention of himself. Accused of stealing and running away, Genet was sent to reform school at Mettray, where his imagination flourished under the spell of an all-male communal life and his first homosexual experiences. In the 1930s, he deserted from the army and travelled in Europe as a vagabond, prostitute and thief, always on the lam from the police and the military. In 1942, he emerged from one of several prison stays with the first of his remarkable novels, Our Lady of the Flowers. It was admired by Cocteau, who undertook to get it published and interceded with the French authorities to keep its author out of prison. White shows us how Cocteau thrust the 'marvelous, mysterious, intolerable' Genet into the heart of literary Paris, where he enjoyed a curious celebrity as great writer and petty thief, was painted by Giacometti (from whom he stole) and was canonized by Sartre in his monumental study, Saint Genet. By 1948, Genet had produced five highly original novels. In the mid-1950s, after several years of debilitating depression, he turned to the writing of plays, of which The Balcony, The Blacks and The Screens were immediately hailed as masterpieces. Despite his ambivalence about political movements, he supported the Paris student uprising in 1968 and turned up -- as a journalist -- at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In 1970, he became a spokesman for the Black Panthers, but in his last decade he immersed himself -- politically and aesthetically -- in the Arab world, championing the struggle for a Palestinian homeland and writing his last, posthumously published book, Prisoner of Love. Edmund White explores the perverse extremes of Genet's life and separates the facts from the mythology that Genet himself fashioned. Drawing on interviews with Genet's friends, lovers, publishers and acquaintances, and using new material from correspondence, journals, police records, psychiatric reports and other original sources, White reveals a life animated by contradictory impulses: authenticity and dissembling, fidelity and flirtation, domination and submission, honor and betrayal. Throughout, he brilliantly interprets and appraises Genet's astonishing oeuvre, reading the fiction with the focussed attention of a novelist and opening up the dense invention of the plays. His masterful and intuitive biography fully illuminates a hitherto enigmatic literary genius.
LC Classification Number
PQ2613.E53.Z9 1993
Item description from the seller
Seller feedback (5,689,231)
- c***m (417)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseWOW!; I cannot believe this 3 Days to Hawaii! ; AAA+++; Excellent Service; Great Pricing; Fast Delivery-Faster Than Expected to Hawaii!; Shipped 05/05, Mon, Received 05/08, Thu to Hawaii using free shipping; USPS Ground Mail, Book in Excellent Condition--Better Than Described ; TLC Packaging; Excellent Seller Communication, Sends updates . Highly Recommended!, Thank you very much!
- v***v (2054)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseAlthough this book was not as described, with no picture of it in the listing, the seller communicated well and quickly gave me a full refund while letting me keep it. The minimal packaging left the book a bit vulnerable (typical for ThriftBooks), but it did arrive safely and timely. As usual, it’s hit or miss with this seller, but often times you can get great values, and their customer service is always very good. Many other sellers with millions of transactions don’t even communicate.
- a***r (375)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchasei am so happy to have every book of this series! the price of the book & the shipping is very reasonable! the book was as described & was in excellent condition! it was shipped quickly & arrived quickly! the books are always packaged carefully so they arrived undamaged! the communication from the sellers is always excellent--they go out of their way for excellent customer service! i have been a repeat customer from this seller & always will be! this seller is the best bookseller on ebay!
More to explore:
- Biography & Autobiography Antiquarian & Collectable Books,
- Biographies & True Stories Fiction & Non-Fiction Books,
- Biographies & True Stories Non-Fiction Hardcover Books,
- Biography & Autobiography Hardcover Antiquarian & Collectable Books,
- European Biography & Autobiography Antiquarian & Collectable Books,
- Biographies & True Stories Non-Fiction Hardcover Illustrated Books,
- Biographies & True Stories Non-Fiction Hardcover Signed Books,
- Biographies & True Stories Fiction & Non-Fiction Books in English,
- Biography & Autobiography 1950-Now Antiquarian & Collectable Books,
- Biographies & True Stories Books & Fiction Non-Fiction Books
Seller feedback (5,689,231)
- c***m (417)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseWOW!; I cannot believe this 3 Days to Hawaii! ; AAA+++; Excellent Service; Great Pricing; Fast Delivery-Faster Than Expected to Hawaii!; Shipped 05/05, Mon, Received 05/08, Thu to Hawaii using free shipping; USPS Ground Mail, Book in Excellent Condition--Better Than Described ; TLC Packaging; Excellent Seller Communication, Sends updates . Highly Recommended!, Thank you very much!
- v***v (2054)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseAlthough this book was not as described, with no picture of it in the listing, the seller communicated well and quickly gave me a full refund while letting me keep it. The minimal packaging left the book a bit vulnerable (typical for ThriftBooks), but it did arrive safely and timely. As usual, it’s hit or miss with this seller, but often times you can get great values, and their customer service is always very good. Many other sellers with millions of transactions don’t even communicate.
- a***r (375)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchasei am so happy to have every book of this series! the price of the book & the shipping is very reasonable! the book was as described & was in excellent condition! it was shipped quickly & arrived quickly! the books are always packaged carefully so they arrived undamaged! the communication from the sellers is always excellent--they go out of their way for excellent customer service! i have been a repeat customer from this seller & always will be! this seller is the best bookseller on ebay!