Jim Kepner:
Janet Flanner, who wrote under the pen name “Genet” should not be confused with the gay male ex-convict Jean Genet, once-shocking French playwright and novelist. Flanner wrote The New Yorker's delightful and perceptive “Letter from Paris” column for decades, and interviewed virtually everybody of note. She kept her own lesbianism well hidden while she sniffed at those such as Natalie Barney who were public about their lives. Still , this is a wonderfully clever insider view of “Gai Paree” and its celebrities in mid-century France.
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