This Blogger considers Jean Genet one of the great dramatists of the 20 th  Century, on par with Pirandello, Pinter, and Brecht. This Blogger considers THE BALCONY and THE MAIDS flat out masterpieces, but masterpieces of the  Théâtre de la Cruauté( the Theater of Cruelty . He never won a Nobel Prize for Literature. Perhaps because of his checkered background; he was a thief, a criminal, a convict, a male prostitute and a pimp. To top it off, Genet had an ungodly obsession with the Roman Catholic Church; when Jean Paul Sartre wrote his famous essay on Genet, he called it SAINT GENET. VATICAN II, the great Catholic Council was televised in Europe; d uring VATICAN II, Genet set up  shop at a Parisian café, at an outdoor table. He placed a television on his table, and invited bystanders to watch the proceedings with him,as he offered commentary. The highlight of his day was pointing out which of the bishops on screen were gay. Genet was a master of the dynami...