The letters sent from prison, where Jean Genet was sent in the summer of 1943 for stealing a book, are simple-minded, devoid of literary delights, replete with everyday details interspersed with discussions about creativity, and therefore create a living and spontaneous portrait of the future author of “The Diary of a Thief” and "The Miracle of the Rose". The addressee of the letters, the young writer François Santin, or Franz, who supported Zhenya during his imprisonment, was one of the first to recognize the great writer in the dissolute scoundrel.