Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet

Our Lady of the Flowers

by Jean Genet 

First published in 1943

This edition published by Grove (year not specified)

Genet wrote this book while in prison. Unfortunately, a guard found the first draft and burned it. So he wrote it again. It was subsequently published (after he got out of prison) in a very limited, more sexually explicit run. He later edited it into the form that we have here, and what a treasure it is. 

Following the trials and tribulations of the queer underbelly of Paris, this book centers on the relationship between Divine and their pimp/lover Darling. Their tumultuous and, at times, tender relationship brings them into contact with other pimps and prostitutes as they try to avoid-but-also-antagonize authority all the while forming a close-knit and, as is always the case in small scenes, petty community. 

Enter a murderer, Our Lady of the Flowers. This character brings an element of chaos into the lives of Divine and Darling and their group, as Our Lady is brought into both the sexual and social folds, driving things towards the emotional climax of the story: Divine’s death from tuberculosis. Through interactions with Our Lady, betrayal, murder, violence, sexual transgressions, evil (in the Bataille sense) are held in esteem and are mediums for holy transfiguration. 

It’s the beauty of the down and out…a reminder of how close we all are to this life either through choice, or sociopolitical circumstance, or acts of God (God forbid). It has to have been an influence for folks like John Waters and other transgressive greats. This is rebellion literature, and the world is better off for Genet forcing it (after repeated attempts at destruction and imprisonment) into existence. 

Heavy Lit rating: Highly Recommended  

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