The Criminal Child: Selected Essays

The Criminal Child offers the first English translation of a key early work by Jean Genet. In 1949, in the midst of a national debate about improving the French reform-school system, Radiodiffusion Fran aise commissioned Genet to write about his experience as a juvenile delinquent. He sent back a piece that was a paean to prison instead of the expected horrifying expos . Revisiting the cruel hazing rituals that had accompanied his incarceration, relishing the special argot spoken behind bars, Genet bitterly denounced any improvement in the condition of young prisoners as a threat to their criminal souls. The radio station chose not to broadcast Genet's views.

"The Criminal Child" appears here with a selection of Genet's finest essays, including his celebrated piece on the art of Alberto Giacometti.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Published: 01/21/2020
ISBN: 9781681373614
Pages: 128
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 7.90h x 4.90w x 0.40d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 10/01/2019
Publishers Weekly 09/30/2019
Library Journal 01/10/2020 pg. 1