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Le Balcon

Jean Genet

199796 pagesabout 1–2 hours
1997
first published
  • 1962Grove Press · 96 pagesISBN 9780802150349
  • 1966Grove Press · 118 pages · ENG
  • 1991Faber and Faber · 96 pages · ENGISBN 9780571152469
  • 1997Faber and Faber · 112 pagesISBN 9780571192977
  • 1988Grove/AtlanticISBN 9780394172149
  • 1979French & European Pubns · ENGISBN 9780828836449
  • 2013LOSADA · 304 pagesISBN 9789500306553
  • 2010Ayrinti Yayinlari · 128 pagesISBN 9789755395135

The setting of Jean Genet's celebrated play is a brothel that caters to refined sensibilities and peculiar tastes. Here men from all walks of life don the garb of their fantasies and act them out: a man from the gas company wears the robe and mitre of a bishop; another customer becomes a flagellant judge, and still another a victorious general, while a bank clerk defiles the Virgin mary. These costumed diversions take place while outside a revolution rages which has isolated the brothel from the rest of the rebel-controlled city. In a stunning series of macabre, climactic scenes, Genet presents his caustic view of man and society.

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