Jean Genet, Le Balcon [The Balcony]

Clare Finburgh (University of Kent at Canterbury)

Ed. by David Houston Jones, University of Exeter
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.07: French Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (Universidad de Antioquia), Hugo Azerad (University of Cambridge), Patrick ffrench (King's College London), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London), Siobhán McIlvanney (King's College London), Sinan Richards (King's College London), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1956

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

Spin, celebrity and spectacle. The construction, dissemination and perpetuation of image dominates, and to some extent determines, modern public life. For popstars and politicians alike, appearance counts more than policy or talent. Written in 1956, Jean Genet’s Le Balcon, a play which reveals the rites and rituals, the garments and accoutrements from which image is composed, is therefore of great relevance today.

“My beautiful gilded hat, you my beautiful vestments, my copes, my lace [. . .] Stuff functions”, exclaims the Bishop in the opening scene (1991, 5). The first three tableaux each present an archetypal figure of power – Bishop, Judge, General – conforming to his public image. For the Bishop, the p…

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2915 words

Citation: Finburgh, Clare. "Le Balcon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 November 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23511, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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