The Criminal Child offers the first English translation of a key early
work by Jean Genet. In 1949, in the midst of a national debate about
improving the French reform-school system, Radiodiffusion Française
commissioned Genet to write about his experience as a juvenile
delinquent. He sent back a piece that was a paean to prison instead of
the expected horrifying exposé. Revisiting the cruel hazing rituals that
had accompanied his incarceration, relishing the special argot spoken
behind bars, Genet bitterly denounced any improvement in the condition
of young prisoners as a threat to their criminal souls. The radio
station chose not to broadcast Genet's views.
"The Criminal Child" appears here with a selection of Genet's finest
essays, including his celebrated piece on the art of Alberto Giacometti.