Camille Naish has written the first formalist study of the provocative French writer Jean Genet. She treats his major texts, from the erotic homosexual elegy Le Condamne a mort (1942) to the highly controversial epic Les Parvents (1966), and links the characteristic structure of his later plays with his relatively obscure first poems and early novels. Dr. Naish’s study insightfully discusses previous critical responses to Genet, examines Genet’s relationship with Cocteau and the Surrealists, and finally takes an original look at humor and parody in this unusual writer.