There can have been few novels published in the twentieth century which have more firmly rejected the traditional Christian bourgeois morality than the one I propose to study in this article. It is the novel of a counter-culture par excellence, and has come to be seen as the definitive literary statement of a radical alternative. Its main character, a homosexual prostitute with a criminal record, moves in and epitomises the specific milieu of his culture, carrying with him all the detail of its particularity. He is arguably the last literary figure, if judged solely on his superficial reputation, to whom most people would turn for enlightenment on the notion of saintliness, and yet it is precisely this notion that is at the centre of much of his significance, and to which this article is devoted. Genet does not simply describe his creation periodically as a ‘saint’, without further qualification, but rather carries this epithet through in the context of a developed understanding of what he considers it to mean. Our possible initial reaction of feeling that ‘saint’ is probably used as a more eye-catching term for ‘hero’ or ‘star’—a sort of linguistic shock-tactic—is thus, on closer examination, transformed into a conviction that the word ‘saint’ is used simply because it is the only word that is right; it is the only word that means what the author is trying to say, and as such deserves, and indeed demands analysis.

Report on the ‘Genet in Performance’ symposium held at the University of East Anglia on 17–18 October 2003

IE THéÂTRE DE JEAN GENET, qui ne comprend que cinq pièces,1 frappe d'emblée parson caractère agonistique. Alors que les dramaturges contemporains les plus illustres, Ionesco, Arrabal et surtout Beckett nous présentent des personnages égarés ou hagards, incapables de lutter contre un destin dont ils ne conçoivent clairement que l'absurdité, Genet semble savoir où il va. Animés d'une cruauté lucide et efficace, ses personnages ont entrepris d'un cœur allègre la démolition de leur société, de notre société, au nom de l'idée de Révolution. Nous entendrons ce dernier mot au sens qu'on lui accorde généralement dans le vocabulaire politique, en l'opposant au simple coup d‘état, dépourvu de tout idéalisme et qui ne vise au pouvoir que pour satisfaire une cynique volonté de puissance. L'activité révolutionnaire, elle, cherche à opérer un changement de gouvernement afin de favoriser l‘épanouissement des citoyens dans une liberté plus grande. Obéissant au mouvement dialectique qui va de l'analyse de la Babylone à détruire aux exigences de la cité nouvelle à édifier, nous commencerons par la critique de cette société sclérosée, que Genet affirme être la nôtre et qui ne tient plus debout que par habitude, grâce aux lois de la pesanteur et de l'inertie sociologiques. Contre elle se tendront toutes les forces des principaux personnages et, par derrière eux, de Genet. Telle qu'elle est décrite dans Le Balcon et dans Les Nègres, la société à renverser nous apparaît d'abord sous des espèces féodales. En effet l'autorité s'y incarne en ce que Genet appelle “les Trois Figures fondamentales.” Il désigne par là l'Evêque. le Juge et le Général du Balcon. On les reconnaîtra à leur stature surhumaine, à leurs épaules artificiellement élargies et à l'espèce de cothurne qu'ils doivent chausser:

Specialists in genetic psychology, and especially in child psychology, do not always suspect what diverse and fruitful relationships are possible between their own subject and other more general kinds of research, such as the theory of knowledge or epistemology. And the converse is even more true, if that is possible: that child psychology has for long been regarded as a collection of case histories of infants. The necessity has not always been recognised, even in the field of general psychology, of considering all problems from the standpoint of development, and it is still true, in certain countries, that ‘child psychologists’ are a group apart, having no contact with the main currents of experimental psychology. Even less, as a rule, do students of the theory of knowledge suspect that, within reach as it were, in the field of psychogenetic experience, they can sometimes find solutions to the most general questions on the formation of ideas or on the analysis of intellectual activity. Yet they have been known to show inexhaustible patience when trying to reconstruct some unknown passage from the history of science for the sake of its epistemological significance.

Margaret Brazier has argued that, in the literature on reproductive technology, women's “right” to reproduce is privileged, pushed, and subordinated to patriarchal values in such a way that it amounts to women's old “duty” to reproduce, dressed up in modern guise. I agree that there are patriarchal assumptions made in discussions of whether women have a right to select which embryos to implant or which fetuses to carry to term. Forcing ourselves to see women as active, rational decisionmakers tends to counteract any lingering patriarchal assumptions. But rational decisionmaking requires information. Voting wisely requires information about the candidates. Taking women's reproductive rights seriously means taking seriously women's need for relevant information to make rational decisions, including decisions about which embryos to implant or alter. I argue that preimplantation genetic profiles and prenatal test information should be made available to prospective parents, especially prospective mothers, unless doing so threatens to harm the resulting child or the larger society in specifiable and important ways.

Genet is related to that family of people who are nowadays referred to by the barbaric name of passéistes. An accident riveted him to a childhood memory, and this memory became sacred. In his early childhood, a liturgical drama was performed, a drama of which he was the officiant; he knew paradise and lost it, he was a child and was driven from his childhood. No doubt this “break” is not easy to localize. It shifts back and forth, at the dictate of his moods and myths, between the ages of ten and fifteen. But that is unimportant. What matters is that it exists and that he believes in it. His life is divided into two heterogeneous parts: before and after the sacred drama. Indeed, it is not unusual that the memory condenses into a single mythical moment the contingencies and perpetual re-beginnings of an individual history.

The genetic characterization of catfishes by means of phenotypic markers, karyotyping, protein and DNA polymorphisms contributes to or forms an integral part of the disciplines of systematics, population genetics, quantitative genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology and aquaculture. Judged from the literature, the general approach to research is pragmatic; the Siluroidei do not include model species for fundamental genetic research. The Clariidae and the Ictaluridae represent the best studied families. The systematic status of a number of species and families has been either elucidated or confirmed by genetic approaches. Duplication of ancestral genes occurred in catfishes just as in other vertebrates. The genetic structure of and gene flow among natural populations have heen documented in relatively few cases, while the evaluation of strains for aquaculture (especially Ictaluridae and Clariidae) is in progress. The mapping of genetic markers has started in Ictalurus.It appears that a more detailed knowledge of catfish populations is required from two perspectives. First, natural populations which are threatened by habitat loss and interfluvial or intercontinental transfers are poorly characterized at the genetic level. Secondly, the selection of suitable strains for aquaculture should be encouraged. Implementation should pose no problems given the present powerful means, such as DNA characterization combined with protein polymorphisms and phenotyping, to solve the above-mentioned issues.

Advances in genetic linkage strategies, including techniques of molecular genetics, augur well for the discovery of disease-related genes in mental disorders. Recent studies showing linkage of chromosomal loci to bipolar affective illness and schizophrenia attest to the potential in the ‘new genetics'. However, the failure to replicate some of the early findings has led to calls for re-evaluation of the methodology in psychiatric research. Problems in studying complex (psychiatric) disorders include diagnostic uncertainties, unclear mode of transmission, aetiological heterogeneity, cohort effects, and assortative mating. Knowing the potential pitfalls in linkage analysis of mental illness should avert spurious findings and will increase the prospects of success.

Researches on local breeds have mainly focused on the scientific and technical activities of genetic gain production and/or maintain genetic variability. The diffusion of the genetic gain used to be taken for granted, or considered as of little importance as the State was subsidizing official breeding schemes. However, diffusion and sustainability of small local-breeding schemes are threatened by current changes in breeding activities and organizations. Diversification of farming and breeding objectives, liberalization of public policies on breeding activities, decrease in public support change the business model of breeding organizations. Local breeds are particularly concerned, as they may be threatened by more competitive and widespread ones. Indeed, the management of the diffusion dimension of breeding activities gets a greater importance. Thus, there is a need for a better understanding of the market of genetic gain and the strategies of its participants. To investigate this issue, we study with quantitative and qualitative data, the way the genetic market works in the case of local dairy sheep breeds in the Western Pyrenees. In this area, the use of artificial insemination (AI) outside nucleus flocks is weak. The diffusion is mainly based on the exchanges of live breeding animals, but the number and substance of the exchanges are unknown. We analyse two types of markets, which are set up: the official sale of breeding animals, organized by the breeding centre; the parallel market of rams' exchanges by mutual agreement between farmers. We find several paradoxical results: the more expensive animals are sold outside of the breeding schemes, while the genetic value is more uncertain; the breeding centre does not find enough buyers for its rams, while there is a shortage of rams in the region; outside the breeding schemes, the parallel market of rams is dominant. We also identify that there is a diversity of prices on the market, which cannot be explained based on the scientific evaluation of animals. We show the existence of a second-hand market of rams. In conclusion, we argue that there are various ways of managing the diffusion of genetic gain, and that the market is only one of this.