'The man who wears the uniform of a sailor is in no way pledged or bound to obey the rules of prudence.'
First published in 1953, Querelle, a young sailor is at large in the port of Brest. His abrupt superior officer, Lt. Seblon, records in an elegant diary his longing for the young man. The policeman, who frames his mates for stealing from the Monoprix, covets him. Mario, the brothel keeper's husband, feels entitled to possess him. The murderer in hiding, whom he nourishes, embraces him. Even the madame herself, despite her disapproval of his kind, becomes Querelle's mistress. Only Genet - the 'poet of evil of our times' (Cyril Connolly) - could make magic out of the creature of the stinking port; and Querelle of Brest may be perhaps the most inventive, because it is the least autobiographical, of Genet's prose work.