Items

• Bodies and souls : a novel
  Born in El Paso, Texas, to Mexican parents, John Rechy’s (1931-) first novel, ‘City of Night’, was published in 1963 and became a bestseller. Twenty years later, ‘Bodies and Souls’ was published by Carroll & Graf. Written in the style of a classic Hollywood film, the novel is set in Los Angeles and follows a range of characters including porn stars, punks, strippers, television reporters and an evangelist. In addition to his own literary career, Rechy taught creative writing and was also a sex worker. Many of Rechy’s experiences informed his fiction.
• Saint Genet : actor and martyr
  First published in French in 1952, this biography of Jean Genet (1910-1986) is shown here in English translation. Written by one of the twentieth century’s most influential thinkers and writers Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), this work is the first volume of and introduction to ‘The Complete Works of Genet’. Considering him a man out of his time, Sartre outlines Genet’s life from his birth and abandonment as a foundling child, through his times as a thief, prisoner, vagrant, sex worker and later, playwright and novelist. Genet was also an out gay man who both wrote about and was imprisoned for this part of his life. Two works by Genet, ‘Querelle of Brest’ and ‘Treasures of the Night – The Collected Poems of Jean Genet’, were also seized during the ‘Operation Tiger’ raids.