Jean Genet: from Fascism to Nihilism

Jean Genet is frequently identified with the politically liberal Left, and his sympathies are as frequently placed with the outcasts of society. However, an examination of his life and the lives of his associates reveals both that he and they flourished in the ideologies of the Right, especially in the extremes of anti-Semitism and fascism, and that Genet’s experiences eventually engendered a strong anti-Western bias that espoused universal nihilism.