Querelle Jean Genet’s life experiences in 1940’s France affected the content of his book Querelle of Brest. This is immediately evident when you glance at the main character of Querelle of Brest. The immediate comparisons are obvious, both Jean Genet and Querelle were in the French military, both Genet and Querelle are criminals, and both Genet and Querelle have a history of homosexual tendencies. These similarities are just the surface however. Genet uses the characters in Querelle of Brest to express complex ideas about his own self-image.
Before delving into these ideas however, one must first know a bit about Jean Genet’s personal history and the environment he was in. Jean Genet was born in Paris, France in 1910. (Pendergast) Some sources claim that Genet’s mother was a prostitute but other sources dispute it, though regardless if she was a prostitute or not, Querelle never knew anything about his father and his mother abandoned him at birth. He was raised by foster parents who were reputedly very loving and supportive. Genet was a good student at school but he often got into trouble due to his often attempts of running away from home and stealing. (New World) Genet’s life of crime began at age ten when he was falsely accused of stealing. At that point Genet decided that he would become the thief that he was accused of being. (imagi-nation) It was a couple years later that Genet discovered that he was a homosexual. It was during these early years when Genet discovered who he was as a person. That person was a homosexual criminal and that discovery would later influence the rest of his life. (imagi-nation) Genet’s life as a thief eventually led him to be taken into a French Juvenile Deliquent Center known as Mettray Penal Colony (Pendergast). He was there until he joined the French military at the age of eighteen. He was soon dishonorably discharged from service due to being caught in a homosexual act.