Every so often I come across these books, classics, I should have read already long ago... The Thief's Journal, Jean Genet's iconic and groundbreaking novel, is one them. This latest edition features a new introduction by Patti Smith - the reason I finally got around to reading it, and a perfect complement to the author's pioneering genius.

Genet found love, poetry and lyricism in prison, drawing pride, triumph and reason for glory in the admittance and acceptance of his weaknesses. His life of crime and passion is captured in The Thief's Journal, a story of going down the rabbit hole, of choices and searches, and of what it means to be attracted to the darkness... Where seeing beauty in the unconventional, the underworld, and letting yourself - or part of yourself - take pleasure in the unknown is source of light, and true awakening. For in pain there is also liberation...

"If I cannot have the most brilliant destiny, I want the most wretched, not for the purpose of a sterile solitude, but in order to achieve something new with such rare matter."