Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost artists of the surrealist, avant-garde, and Dadaist movements and an influential figure in early 20th century art. The National Observer suggested that, "of the artistic generation whose daring gave birth to Twentieth Century Art, Cocteau came closest to being a Renaissance man.".
Brest is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of a peninsula and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second largest French military port after Toulon. The city is located on the western edge of continental France. With 139,456 inhabitants (2020), Brest forms Western Brittany's largest metropolitan area, ranking third behind only Nantes and Rennes in the whole of historic Brittany, and the 25th most populous city in France (2019); moreover, Brest provides services to the one million inhabitants of Western Brittany. Although Brest is by far the largest city in Finistère, the préfecture of the department is in the much smaller town of Quimper.
Jean Desmarets, Sieur de Saint-Sorlin was a French writer and dramatist. He was a founding member, and the first to occupy seat 4 of the Académie française in 1634.
Jean Genet was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels The Thief's Journal and Our Lady of the Flowers and the plays The Balcony, The Maids and The Screens.
Querelle is a 1982 English-language arthouse film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and starring Brad Davis, adapted from French author Jean Genet's 1947 novel Querelle of Brest. It was Fassbinder's last film, released shortly after his death at the age of 37.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1947.
The Thief's Journal is a novel by Jean Genet. Although autobiographical to some degree, Genet’s exploitation of poetic language results in an ambiguity throughout the text. Superficially, the novel follows the author’s progress though 1930s Europe, wearing little and enduring hunger, contempt, and fatigue: “the life of the vermin”. The protagonist is “hot for crime” and romanticizes criminality as well as homosexuality, two facets of his identity that keep him ostracized from the general public.
Georges "Jo" Querelle is the protagonist and antihero of Jean Genet's 1947 novel Querelle de Brest.
Miracle of the 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.
Mohamed Choukri was a Moroccan author and novelist who is best known for his internationally acclaimed autobiography For Bread Alone, which was described by the American playwright Tennessee Williams as "a true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact".
Jean-Pierre Genet was a professional road bicycle racer from Brest, France from 1964 to 1976. During this time he stayed with one cycling team, the Mercier team of Raymond Poulidor. He rode 13 editions of the Tour de France where he won three stages, once each in 1968, 1971 and 1974. He wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification for one day in the 1968 Tour de France. In 1967, Genet was the Lanterne rouge in the Tour de France.
Laurent Marie Guespin-Malet is a French actor, and the twin brother of actor Pierre Malet.
Joseph Thomin was a French professional road bicycle racer, who won one stage of the 1956 Tour de France.
René-Jean Clot was a French painter, and novelist. His novel, L'Enfant halluciné, won the 1987 Prix Renaudot.
Frieda Ekotto is a Francophone African woman novelist and literary critic. She is Professor of AfroAmerican and African Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan and is currently the Hunting Family Fellow at the Institute for the Humanities. She is best known for her novels, which focus on gender and sexuality in Sub-Saharan Africa, and her work on the writer Jean Genet, particular her political analysis of his prison writing, and his impact as a race theorist in the Francophone world. Her research and teaching focuses on literature, film, race and law in the Francophone world, spanning France, Africa, the Caribbean and the Maghreb.
Jacques Guérin was a French industrialist. For many years he successfully headed up the D'OrsayParfumerie business after inheriting it in 1936 from his remarkable mother, Jeanne Louise Guérin. Beyond the world of commerce Jacques Guérin is better known by many as a passionate collector of books and manuscripts. One reviewer, paraphrasing the sentiments of several commentators, has described him as "not just a collector but a rescuer of all things Proustian".
Jean-François Josselin was a French writer and journalist. He was born in Brest in 1939. He worked at the periodicals L'Express and Le Nouvel Observateur. He was the author of books such as L'Enfer et compagnie, La Mer au large, Encore un instant (1992), and Les petites horreurs (1997). He also wrote a play in 1993, titled La fortune du pot, and a biography of Simone Signoret in 1995. He was a long-time participant in the literary TV show Boîte aux lettres, which was emceed by Jérôme Garcin and which ran on France 3 between 1983 and 1987.
Kevin Lambert is a Canadian writer from Quebec. He is most noted for his novel Querelle de Roberval, which won the Prix Ringuet in 2019.
Birke Jasmin Bertelsmeier is a German composer.
Emmanuelle Lambert is a French writer.
