Carl Lavery is Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Performance at Aberystwyth University

Lavery’s brilliant analysis of the political meanings of Genet’s late drama can be understood as paying homage to Genet’s conceptual recedents. Thus does Lavery become part of a unique school of scholars, including Derrida, whose theoretical work reflects mimetically and matches the complexity of Genet’s own theorizing.

• List of figures Acknowledgements Part I Introduction 1. Genet and commitment: politics and aesthetics 2. Tracing the shift: the event of the wound 3. Aesthetic politics: staging the wound Part II 4. Exploding the bordello in The Balcony: spectacle, allegory and the wound of theatre 5. Détournement, abjection and disidentification in The Blacks 6. Bringing it all back home: ‘The battle of The Screens’ 7. Conclusion: Genet our contemporary Part III 8. Interview with Lluís Pasqual 9. Interview with JoAnne Akalaitis 10. Interview with Ultz 11. Interview with Excalibah Appendix ‘Preface to The Blacks’, trans. Clare Finburgh References Index

Carl Lavery is Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Performance at Aberystwyth University

Lavery’s brilliant analysis of the political meanings of Genet’s late drama can be understood as paying homage to Genet’s conceptual recedents. Thus does Lavery become part of a unique school of scholars, including Derrida, whose theoretical work reflects mimetically and matches the complexity of Genet’s own theorizing.

• List of figures Acknowledgements Part I Introduction 1. Genet and commitment: politics and aesthetics 2. Tracing the shift: the event of the wound 3. Aesthetic politics: staging the wound Part II 4. Exploding the bordello in The Balcony: spectacle, allegory and the wound of theatre 5. Détournement, abjection and disidentification in The Blacks 6. Bringing it all back home: ‘The battle of The Screens’ 7. Conclusion: Genet our contemporary Part III 8. Interview with Lluís Pasqual 9. Interview with JoAnne Akalaitis 10. Interview with Ultz 11. Interview with Excalibah Appendix ‘Preface to The Blacks’, trans. Clare Finburgh References Index

Carl Lavery is Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Performance at Aberystwyth University

Lavery’s brilliant analysis of the political meanings of Genet’s late drama can be understood as paying homage to Genet’s conceptual recedents. Thus does Lavery become part of a unique school of scholars, including Derrida, whose theoretical work reflects mimetically and matches the complexity of Genet’s own theorizing.

• List of figures Acknowledgements Part I Introduction 1. Genet and commitment: politics and aesthetics 2. Tracing the shift: the event of the wound 3. Aesthetic politics: staging the wound Part II 4. Exploding the bordello in The Balcony: spectacle, allegory and the wound of theatre 5. Détournement, abjection and disidentification in The Blacks 6. Bringing it all back home: ‘The battle of The Screens’ 7. Conclusion: Genet our contemporary Part III 8. Interview with Lluís Pasqual 9. Interview with JoAnne Akalaitis 10. Interview with Ultz 11. Interview with Excalibah Appendix ‘Preface to The Blacks’, trans. Clare Finburgh References Index