Two autograph letters signed by Jean GENET to the Prosecutor of the Court.

Jean GENET (1910.1986)

Two autograph letters signed to the Prosecutor of the Seine Court.

One page in quarto each. Collector's stamps on each sheet.

Slnd [Paris, February 1948].

Mr. Prosecutor, I have the honor of requesting that you provide me with a copy of my case file concerning the forgery of passports and theft of documents. The case was tried in September 1937…

We attach:

Jean Cocteau . Autograph letter signed to Maurice Garçon. No date [Paris, February 1948]. One page, quarto, on letterhead from Éditions Paul Morihien.

Paul MORIHIEN . Typed letter signed to Maurice Garçon. Paris, February 16, 1948. One page in-4° on letterhead of Éditions Paul Morihien.

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Digging into Jean Genet's legal past to unearth the files: a mission entrusted to Maurice Garçon, the writer's lawyer who, five years earlier, had enabled him to escape perpetual banishment.

Under the pretext of a rehabilitation project, Jean Cocteau and Paul Morihien approached Maurice Garçon to ask the lawyer to support Jean Genet's requests to the prosecutor of the Seine court for access to files related to two of his past cases: he wanted a copy of the prosecution's file in the 1937 case of the false passports and stolen documents, and of Dr. Claude's report in the case of the theft of Fêtes galantes, tried in 1943. (It is known that Maurice Garçon, with the help of Jean Cocteau, saved Genet from exile. It was during this trial that the famous exchange between the novelist and the judge took place. When the latter asked Genet if he knew the price of the stolen book, the writer gave the writer the wonderful reply: " I didn't know the price, but I know its value .")

In the letter he sent to Maître Garçon, along with the three handwritten documents, Genet's publisher and friend summarized the situation: “ Genet has forgotten the precise dates. Could this hinder your efforts? He also claims that we will only obtain satisfaction by feigning a rehabilitation project. In reality, it is a biography that Cocteau and Sartre wish to undertake. You will know better than anyone what needs to be done to obtain these documents, which could make for a very funny book.”

We know that Sartre alone brought this project to fruition: his * Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr*, published in 1952, was one of the key publications in the writer's recognition. It is amusing to note that the project was initially a joint effort: Genet's close friendship with Sartre and Beauvoir must have aroused the jealousy of Jean Cocteau, Genet's first discoverer and supporter when the latter had published nothing other than his poem *The Condemned Man*.