A Literature Review on the Identity Construction of the Simulacra Subject in Jean Genet’s The Balcony

Abstract

Jean Genet's The Balcony explores the fundamental elements of subject identity construction and identification within a framework of double paradoxes. The reconfigurations of simulacra activities challenge the traditional political model of theater, redefining the nature and expression of the subject's identity and endowing theatrical representation with political potential. The subject of simulacra exists in a constant state of internal and external constitutive difference, emphasizing the essential incompleteness and antagonistic dimension of identity construction, which resonates with the political realm. The dual nature of the other renders the construction of the subject's identity an insurmountable task, while the perpetual opposition of the dual relationship converges into tertiary natures, exposing the failure point of impossibility and necessity in subject identity construction. The trinity mode of the subject continually replaces power relationships through negation, engendering space for reflection. This paper employs Deleuze's theory of in-itself difference and Mouffe and Laclau's theory of antagonism and hegemony to analyze the foundational structural strategy of subject identity construction and identification in The Balcony. It elucidates how this strategy establishes the necessary conditions for the autonomy of politics within Genet Theatre.