Tropic of Cancer
Both books make forbidden experience the center of autobiographical literature.
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The Thief’s Journal
by Jean Genet
Jean Genet turns theft, prisons, sex, betrayal, and wandering through Europe into a defiantly beautiful literary autobiography.
- 1949
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeGenet writes from a life deliberately built outside respectable society. Theft, prostitution, desire, imprisonment, and betrayal become the substance of an autobiographical book that refuses apology and transforms degradation into ritual and style.
What's inside
A nonlinear autobiographical account of Genet’s years among thieves, lovers, prisons, and the European underworld.
Why we recommend it
Outside respectable life
Genet places sex, crime, betrayal, and social exclusion at the center of serious literature without asking permission.
What this book explores
Book editions
- Paperback
- Grove Press
- 2018
- 9780802128270
Reader reviews
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References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document The Thief’s Journal, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1The Thief’s Journal
MemoirGallimard, 1949Used forPrimary source for the memoir and its publication record.
i
Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
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