Genet

This biography of Genet explores the perverse extremes of his life and writing, and separates the fact from the mythology which was fostered by Genet himself. Edmund White has interviewed lovers, friends, publishers and acquaintances, and has drawn from material, from letters (a number published here for the first time) and other original sources.

Edmund White has done a scrupulous job in uncovering the truth-His best achievement is to analyse and evaluate Genet's contribution to literature and to clarify his originality. He points up his inspired verbal invention and dense, impacted prose with many a felicitous quotation. This biography is elegant meticulous and wholly satisfying

A superb introduction to the great novelist and playwright, vagabond, thief and convict, and to the brutal childhood from which he mined his remarkable vision

'White's Genet is well written and clearly argues throughout-As an orthodox monument to an unorthodox man, Genet is unlikely to be surpassed' Guardian

Edmund White was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1940. He teaches at Princeton University. He is an officer of the Ordre des Arts et Lettres.