[Both "Le Balcon," a poem by Baudelaire, and Genet's play, Le Balcon,] contain forceful yet subtle images of sensuality and sexuality, presented in climactic terms and serving to express a transcendence of reality. This dramatic process is furthermore presented in both works on a backdrop of nocturnal obscurity. The complex mysteries and depths of space, present throughout the two works, create a tension between the worlds beyond and within the physical barrier of the balcony…. [Both] worlds are evoked in highly sensual and strangely similar terms and … both works present similar expressions of temporal and spatial movement…. (p. 331)

First impressions of the two works are obviously very different: generally sensual recollection of an individual woman as opposed to a blatantly sexual description of "perverted," impersonal acts; a warm and open evening atmosphere as opposed to an artificial and hermetic setting; a tone of tenderness and nostalgia as opposed...