Gallimard Publishes Two Unpublished Genet Texts Alongside Diderot's Philosophical Works

Gallimard has released two previously unpublished works by Jean Genet—La Sentence and J'étais et je n'étais pas—along with a new Pléiade edition of Denis Diderot's Œuvres philosophiques. The manuscripts, which Genet retained and later handed to his editor in the mid-1970s, originate from a period when he was escaping the West, which he described as a "three-thousand-year-long tapeworm." In late 1967, he sought refuge in the Far East, distancing himself from Western leaders. Although the texts do not present new political ideas, they exhibit extraordinary linguistic artistry. Genet, who passed away in April 1986, claims in J'étais et je n'étais pas that his "identity" existed before his birth. The publication features a preface by Michel Delon and an essay by Barbara de Négroni discussing Diderot's atheism and metaphysics.