The Miracle of the Rose
| Author | Jean Genet |
|---|---|
| Original title | Miracle de la rose |
| Translator | Bernard Frechtman |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Semi-autobiographical novel |
| Publisher | Marc Barbezat - L'Arbalete (Original French), Grove Press (English Translation) |
Publication date | 1946 |
Published in English | 1994 |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | 0-571-25038-6 |
| Preceded by | Our Lady of the Flowers |
| Followed by | Funeral Rites |
The Miracle of the Rose (in French: Miracle de la rose) is a 1946 book by Jean Genet about experiences as a detainee in Mettray Penal Colony and Fontevrault prison - although there is no direct evidence of Genet ever having been imprisoned in the latter establishment. This autobiographical work has a non-linear structure: stories from Genet's adolescence are mixed in with his experiences as a thirty-year-old man at Fontevrault prison. At Mettray, Genet describes homosexual erotic desires for his fellow adolescent detainees. There is also a fantastical dimension to the narrative, particularly in Fontevrault passages concerning a prisoner called Harcamone who is condemned to death for murder. Genet idolises Harcamone and writes poetically about the rare occasions on which he catches a glimpse of this character. Genet was detained in Mettray Penal Colony between 2 September 1926 and 1 March 1929, after which, at the age of 18, he joined the Foreign Legion.
In popular culture
The Pogues have a song titled "Hell's Ditch," which contains references to the novel. The composer Hans Werner Henze composed a piece with a title of the same name 'Le Miracle de la Rose'.
References
Luc Forlivesi, Georges-François Pottier and Sophie Chassat, Educate & Punish: the agricultural penal colony of Mettray (1839-1937) (in French), Presses universitaires de Rennes, October 2005.
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