The Sexual Inversion And Power Confrontation In Jean Genet’s Novels

Jean Genet’s autobiographical and artistic writing on the special topics of homosexuality,crime and imprisonment makes him one of the most classical French writers of the 20 th century.He also achieves the comprehensive reflection of society,life and art through the total exposure of rebellion and sin.Homosexuality has always been the central topic in Genet’s literary world.In his novels represented by Our Lady of Flowers,Miracle of the Rose and The Thief’s Journal,the writer especially describes the feminization of gay men on the basis of the inverted desire of homosexuality.From this phenomenon,the thesis tries to find the connotations,courses and intentions of the feminization so as to present the indulgent homosexual world of Genet and disclose how the power discourse shows its discipline towards the living of this marginal group.Meanwhile,this thesis also probes into the establishment of the image of "the sinner".All the efforts point to the understanding of the creation and aesthetics of Genet.There are three specific connotations of feminized inversion in Genet’s novels.First,the writer uses the personal pronoun of "she" and feminized nickname to imply the gay men whose masculine identity has been destroyed by the naming,indicating their fall into the inversion as well as being marginalized by the mainstream society.Second,the personal pronoun has been jumping between "he" and "she" in the memories which is summoned by the homosexual desire,the trial and death,representing their complex attitude and unfortunate ending when facing the choice of sexual identity.Third,the different characters in homosexuality are divided into the subject and the object according to the sexual pattern.The man as the sexual object shows the feminized and submissive features in this way.The thesis finds out that the character who has strength superiority dominates the homosexual relationship through the explanations of the love triangles in the novels.Based on the connotations above,the thesis comes up with three causes of the feminization.First of all,the comparison of strength builds a rank in sex,through which Genet tries to reinventthe masculine identity of homosexuality.The feminization is attributed to the failure of this effort so that the feminized gays submit to the more powerful strength.Further,this gay group suffer from the split between sex and gender because they are commanded to behave as feminized roles.This is why they show the double inversions in their sexual experience,one against heterosexuality,the other opposed to masculinity.The construction of the feminized identity actually points at the lost of their subjectivity.The thesis finally indicates that the feminization of Genet’s novels is rooted in the repression and discipline of power discourse on the basis of traditional sexuality.Genet states how the power works through the two significant metaphors,penis and prison.The former demonstrates the desire and catharsis of power by sex,the latter bases on the imprisonment and hierarchy to show its absolute authority.It is the self-discipline according to the order that makes power achieve its rule.Although the writing on the sexual inversion is based on the experience of homosexuality,Genet has widened the discussion to include identity and power issues so as to establish the image of "the sinner" represented by the gay group.They get close to sin on their own initiative to expose the stifling pressure of power at the cost of self-destruction.In this way,they reveal the painful destiny of all marginal people,from which the eternal beauty rises in the end.Genet advocates that the definite pain and loneliness decide the common destiny of individuals,therefore everyone achieves the same identity and value as any other one.In conclusion,Genet’s writing aims to deliver one truth,that is all men are created equal,then the sinner can recover the dispossessed dignity.This is Genet’s riposte to the abandoned identity as a sinner,as well as the top principle of aesthetic construction and the revaluation in his creation as a classical writer.