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White, Edmund (Author) & Genet, Jean (Subject) .
GENET: A BIOGRAPHY.
New York City, NY:
Alfred A. Knopf,
1993.
Hardcover.
First Edition/First Printing.
728 pages.
Fine/Fine.
Massive and definitive biography on subject. The first appearance of the title in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. One of Edmund White's most notable accomplishments is that he has written a meticulous (hence its daunting length) and accurate yet limpid and luminous account, a refreshing antidote to Jean-Paul Sartre's profoundly philosophical but truly unreadable biography, "Saint Genet" (which Gore Vidal parodied memorably in one of his essays). According to many critics, there is no 20th-century writer whose prose style is as commanding, as authoritative, and as original as Jean Genet's, with the exception of Marcel Proust and Franz Kafka. That Genet was largely self-taught makes his achievement all the more astonishing. It is just as fascinating that he and Proust, the unparalleled French literary artists of the century, should both be homosexual. White, also homosexual, examines this seeming coincidence, its continuity and discontinuity in the constellation of such great French prose stylists as Andre Gide, Jean Cocteau, and Michel Tournier, the philosopher Michel Foucault, and the cultural critic Roland Barthes, all truly seminal figures, all gay. There is something wrong here, this can't be true: Homosexuals are dominant in a major European culture, and yet there are never more than 5% to 10% of them, if that, in any given society, including France, according to credible social scientists? The odds would seem to be against them, and therein lies the paradox that became Jean Genet's unique place in literature, as he was much more "gay" than any of his compatriot geniuses. Written in White's effortless, supple prose, which serves him well in this exhaustive act of intellectual and psychological disburdenment. Every Edmund White book is, deep down, a fable. Every fable, as Ondaatje observes, is marked by a melancholy beauty. A "must-have" title for Edmund White collectors. This copy is prominently and beautifully signed in black fountain pen on the title page by Edmund White. It is signed directly on the page, not on a tipped-in page, as many copies online are. This title has been out-of-print as a hardcover for a long time. At the time of the book's publication, Edmund White was based in Paris, suffering from AIDS, and believed he would never return to America. He was one of the first prominent figures to be diagnosed with the illness, and after more than twenty-five years, remains one of its longest-living survivors (through a cocktail regimen). This is one of very few signed copies of the First American Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. A very scarce signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with vintage black-and-white photographs from Genet's private collection. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1994 for "Genet". Anointed by Vladimir Nabokov as his American successor. One of the finest living American writers. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER EDMUND WHITE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0394571711. $150.00
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White, Edmund (Author) & Genet, Jean (Subject) .
GENET: A BIOGRAPHY.
New York City, NY:
Alfred A. Knopf,
1993.
Hardcover.
First Edition/First Printing.
728 pages.
Fine/Fine.