A little Theology of Homoeroticism? About Jean Genet's first Novel Our Lady of the Flowers

In twelve steps, the French writer Jean Genet (7970-7986) and his fx133;irst homoerotic novel Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs (7944), are circled in an informative way and questioned about their spirituel characteristics. Especially after the intercession of Jean-Paul Sartre, the poet and his fx133;irst work have always been received both controversially and sympathetically also in the German speaking area. In the present essay, the novel is interpreted as a document of a rebellious, but at the same time carefree devoted individual theology with a catholic touch. The fund of religious allusions relates to the entire autobiographical memories some of which are bursting with criminal elements, during Genet's stay in prison at that time. Despite all the ironic scepticism on the part of Genet, a religious view of the proudly emphazised homosexual prerequisite of such literature emerges. The poetic sequence is seen as a result of an absolute liberation or emancipation. The poet still deserves the title Saint Genet (Sartre). This is confx133;irmed by numerous passages in the text and examples that demonstrate Genet's remarkable spiritual transitions. These thoughts are accompanied by comparative references to similar concepts of love and evidences of offfx133;icially catholic resistance to Genet's radical human view up to this day.