Well.. After 33 yrs or so of reading Genet.. I reckon he just doesn't do it for me anymore. The things that I probably found energizing when I 1st started reading his bks, the criminal philosophizing, is mostly tedious to me now. &.. the cocks.. oh am I sick of the cocks.. Do we really exist in a society where people can think of little else other than cock size? How boring. Big cocks & little minds. I saw the Fassbinder film based on this bk when it came out, around 1982. Id' already seen other Fassbinder films. I was interested in him as a major German filmmaker. I didn't like his "Querelle" at all. I remember it as being highly stylized in a theatrical way that was a total turn-off for my more experimental tastes. In fact, truth be told, I've never liked Fassbinder much ANYWAY. Too depressing - even his comedies are just grim reminders of how base & repulsive most people are to me. At 1st, when I started reading "Querelle of Brest", I was reminded, once again, of what a WRITER Genet is, of how carefully he puts his words together, of how 'poetically' (as so many others wd have it) he tells his tale of this murderous sailor. Above all, over & above being gay, over & above being a criminal, Genet was a WRITER. It struck me that I've never run across Genet being referred to as a "crime fiction writer". He's too 'flowery', too philosophical. But, in a sense, he cd be compared to Patricia Highsmith. Querelle cd be compared to her character Mr. Ripley. Both Genet & Highsmith give more psychology than most. When I started reading "Querelle.." I thought I was finishing reading the last of Genet, the one last bk of his I hadn't read - getting closure. Then I saw that he has a play I haven't read: "Splendid's". GROAN. I'm somewhat of an obssessive-compulsive, a completist. After reading "Querelle" will I actually read another bk by Genet? Not anytime soon.. In the end I'd say "Querelle.." was 'interesting', well-written.. but I probably didn't really like it. I found it so tedious so quickly that I kept putting off reading it but, OC that I am, I forced myself to read the whole thing. But, as w/ my reactions to Fassbinder's films, I just found myself sickened by the characters & not really that impressed by Genet's religious hard-on for this form of male 'culture'. I'm the enemy of the mindless mental traps that these characters wallow in. After I finished the bk, I watched the Fassbinder film again to cap off the experience. I think I hated it even more this time than I did when I 1st saw it. As I recall, "Querelle" was Fassbinder's last film. It was different from the earlier ones - more theatrical, less 'realistic': theatrical lighting, melodramatic music, narration, intertitles, obvious sets instead of locations, 'unrealistic' intellectual monologues in the mouths of assholes - that sort of thing. &, yet, I understood in 1982, & I still understand now, Fassbinder's treatment: it's (mostly) faithful to the bk, it's faithful to what sets Genet apart from most writers who might approach his subjects. Still, I hated it. It was so tedious, I kept being tempted to fast-forward thru it. I stopped it halfway thru & took a short nap. It was practically unbearable.. but I knew I'd be writing this & wanted the film fresh in my mind. Fassbinder did change a few parts. He has Querelle dress Gil as Querrelle's brother Robert when he sends him out to rob Lieutenant Seblon. That was an interesting touch, it tied the plot even tighter. I wonder what Genet thought about that? He was still alive when the film came out.
I read Querelle after finishing Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward (a must read), in which Steward tries for years to get his translation of it published in english, to no avail. Genet's book originally appeared in French in the 40's and Steward was simply too far ahead of his time in thinking that the subject matter would be accepted in the US. Steward, and several of his literary companions, shared a reverence for Genet and this book in particular….one going so far as to travel to Brest to hunt down every nook and cranny mentioned in the book that was still standing and accessible. Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to finish Steward's bio and get my hands on a copy of it. That anticipation and the build up to it is, in large part, responsible for my reaction to the book and this review. In no uncertain terms I can say that the writing is beautiful, almost hypnotically poetic. Add to that a delicious cast of characters- murderers, thieves, whores, sex addicts, liars, convicts and voyeurs. Add also an appropriately dangerous setting- the sinister underbelly of a seedy, French, port town with all its hiding places, abandoned prisons, whore houses, dark alleys, bleak ramparts and deserted dockyards. Yes! The perfect storm I thought as I dove in and began turnning pages. (I could just see Jean Paul Belmondo with the collar of his pea coat turned up, lurking in the shadows.) Unfortunately, as I went along, I became increasingly aware that I was grasping for something in the book that wasn’t altogether there. I couldn't get a hold of a through line that compelled me to keep going, yet I did. Was it because of Genet's tendency to ramble off on philosophical tangents that constantly interruped the story line? Was it the result of a poor translation? My over-eagerness to 'get into it'? Whatever it was, I was left with an ambivalence, a disappointement that there wasn’t more to wrest from the experience. Finally, as with many things in life, I’m sorry to say that my disappointment in it was almost as great as my anticipation of it, and will quote the same sentence that another reviewer, below, quoted from page 255: “This book goes on for too many pages, and it bores us.”....probably not unlike this initerminable review, you're thinking.
Do You like book Querelle (1994)?
What can one say of Genet? He was one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, without a doubt, and possibly the greatest writer working in the French language since Gide to address issues of male sexuality in an unconventional, discursive, manner. However, a lot of his fiction to me is rather depressing—droll even in places—and this book was no different, though it did offer more realism and tangible detail than some of his other works. The port city of Brest is one of the more-gritty cities of France, a place always associated mainly with two things: military might (as a naval base) and crime. Genet well understands this and paints the city as the central character of the novel. With the city taking the lead, everyone else brings up the proverbial rear: sailors, naval officers, madames, et cetera. Petty crime and crime grand, it's all here. I'd certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in Genet or 20th century French literature, but I will admit it left me wanting in places. To write a literary whodunit or fiction that desires for nothing more than to be true crime, I would look to Hawksmoor, the 1985 novel by the British writer Peter Ackroyd. While we may not want Genet to be P.D. James, at times the crime aspects could have been played for more interest than they were. Or, perhaps it's just my own personal taste: I will say it's a powerful work and lacks none of all that makes Genet great, I just couldn't get into it as I've always desired to get into Genet's work.If you can read French, do read it in the French. Also, I expect if I read it over again, it will grow on me. There's a lot that's wonderful about this book but it's also trucated to me in places, and almost seems rushed sometimes. Still, it's Genet and could be no other.
—Mike
The thing to remeber about Genet, which Fassbinder clarlyl realizes, is that nothing is real, eveything is iconographic and onieric. "Querelle" is a dream of unsatisfied desire.
—Tosh
This book has very powerful elements to it and is filled with interesting sayings, perspectives, and mindsets. I found the idea of having an antagonistic main character leading as a "hero" an interesting twist compared to other books I've read. This book was evil, lewd, it held nothing back, it was real--delineating the many feats of human nature, the ones often hidden.However, the story isn't the best, the characters aren't really developing, and at times I asked myself "where are we going with this story?" It's great writing coupled with great ideas and a not so great story. I was taken into a weird, enthralling, violent, lascivious and dangerous world while reading this book-- it's just that I got incredibly lost along the way and didn't make much of the ending of this tale.
—Lionzo
