In the following essay, Lane examines Genet's conception of his play The Maids as a failure in light of his belief that modern theater was too “reassuring” to audiences.
In the following essay, Kennelly examines the role of Madame in The Maids, specifically noting discrepancies in the text and Madame's differing character in two versions of the drama.
In the following essay, Running-Johnson examines Genet's use of the principle of duality throughout The Maids, incorporating Luce Irigaray's and Hélène Cixous's feminist interpretations of the work.
The gap between Les Bonnes (1947) and the journal (1948) on the one hand and Le Balcon on the other represents a turning point in [Genet's] life. The crisis was obviously of some magnitude and to a large extent it must have been prompted by [Sartre's] Saint Genet, whose revelations doubtless proved too much for a Genet unused to being the object of such sustained and merciless analysis—so much of it relating to Genet's private life as homosexual and criminal and all of it embarra...
