‘The Crime of Jean Genet’, by Dominique Eddé
Many of us have a writer who means something special to them, whose words have affected us like few other things could ever have. This week’s book is an account, by Lebanese writer Dominique Eddé, of how she met such a figure: Jean Genet. Through explorations of perversion, homosexuality, and trans people, this was a man who rose in post-war France as the literary bad boy of the times, reminiscent of illustrious predecessors such as Baudelaire and Rimbaud in the outrage provoked amongst bien-pensant Parisian circles. Whereas Rimbaud had had Verlaine, Genet was discovered by Cocteau, and Sartre especially, whose coterie he joined. Across different genres (novel, poetry, and drama), Genet raised furious scandals and experienced daring successes throughout his life. The encounter with Genet revealed in full force the attraction exerted by this scandalous man, who deeply embedded himself in her life as an author. The Crime of Jean Genet is a two-pronged exploration of the legendary French writer, published by Kolkota-based Seagull Books, who are keen on world literature and critical theory. Deeply personal reminiscences explore the impact one man and his work can have on a life, and yet they also lead Eddé and the reader towards a thoughtful and cogent examination of Genet’s work. Through the prism of Genet’s father’s absence especially, Eddé sheds new light on unexplored themes and motifs of her hero’s writings: rebellion against the rule of law, his relationship to France, or the three great monotheistic religions. Readers will connect with The Crime of Jean Genet on an intimate level as it echoes the overwhelming impact of an adulated figure, while having their inner literary theorist fired up by Eddés challenging study of Genet. “Dominique Eddé met novelist and playwright Jean Genet in the 1970s. And she never forgot him. “His presence,” she writes, “gave me the sensation of icy fire. Like his words, his gestures were full, calculated and precise. . . . Genet’s movements mimicked the movement of time, accumulating rather than passing.”
About the author:
Dominique Eddé was born in Beyrouth, and is a novelist and essayist, currently living in Turkey. She has also at times been active as a literary critic, teacher, publisher, or translator (of some of Edward Said’s works, notably). Some of her political articles have been published in Le Monde and Le Nouvel Observateur. In 1991, she curated and published the photographic project 'Beirut City Centre' which aimed at preserving a visual memory of war-torn Beyrouth, featuring, in particular, the work of Robert Frank and Joseph Koudelka. Two of her novels have also been translated and published in English: Kamal Jann (2012), translated by Ros Schwartz (Seagull Books, 2014)
‘Dominique Eddé’s gripping novel tells the story of the doomed Jann family as they plot against one another for revenge and power. Kamal Jann, a successful lawyer in New York City, has a troubled past unseen to most. When he was a boy in Syria, his uncle, the head of the Syrian CIA, had his parents killed, leaving Kamal orphaned at the age of twelve. In a twisted attempt for forgiveness, and as insurance against retaliation, Kamal’s uncle paid for his education, leading to his eventual success. Now living in Manhattan, Kamal receives news that his uncle is planning a terrorist attack on Paris and has recruited Kamal’s jihadist brother to carry it out. To save his brother, and ultimately avenge his parent’s murder, Kamal enters into a dangerous pact with his uncle. Calm, reserved, and even charming on the surface, Kamal hides a vein of madness that will stop at nothing to bring down his uncle and the Syrian regime.’
Cerf-volant (2003), translated by Ros Schwartz (Seagull Books, 2012):
‘Rich and multilayered, with elements of both memoir and fiction, Dominique Eddé’s Kite defies categorization. Beginning in the 1960s and ending in the late ’80s, it is at once a narrative of a passionate, and ultimately tragic, relationship between Mali and Farid and the simultaneous decline of Egyptian-Lebanese society. Densely populated with myriad characters, Kite chronicles the casualties of social conventions, religious divisions and cultural clichés. The differences between East and West are central to the tension of Eddé’s book and share the responsibility for an unavoidable impasse between the lovers. This fragmented narrative—written in several voices that reflect the fragmented lives of those caught up in the madness of war—calls into question an entire way of living and thinking.’
About the translators:
Ros Schwartz has translated over 60 works of fiction and non-fiction, particularly novels by contemporary Francophone writers including Andrée Chedid, Ousmane Sembène, Yasmina Khadra and Aziz Chouaki. Her co-translation (with Amanda Hopkinson) of Dominique Manotti's Lorraine Connection won the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger Award in 2008. She was made a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009. She is Chair of English PEN's Writers in Translation Programme.
Andrew Rubens is a writer and translator whose work has appeared in the Glasgow Review of Books, Charlie Hebdo, and PN Review.