Jean Cocteau
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- $26.99
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- $26.99
Publisher Description
This passionate and monumental biography reassesses the life and legacy of one of the most significant cultural figures of the twentieth century
Unevenly respected, easily hated, almost always suspected of being inferior to his reputation, Jean Cocteau has often been thought of as a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. In this landmark biography, Claude Arnaud thoroughly contests this characterization, as he celebrates Cocteau’s “fragile genius—a combination almost unlivable in art” but in his case so fertile.
Arnaud narrates the life of this legendary French novelist, poet, playwright, director, filmmaker, and designer who, as a young man, pretended to be a sort of a god, but who died as a humble and exhausted craftsman. His moving and compassionate account examines the nature of Cocteau’s chameleon-like genius, his romantic attachments, his controversial politics, and his intimate involvement with many of the century’s leading artistic lights, including Picasso, Proust, Hemingway, Stravinsky, and Tennessee Williams. Already published to great critical acclaim in France, Arnaud’s penetrating and deeply researched work reveals a uniquely gifted artist while offering a magnificent cultural history of the twentieth century.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Originally released in France in 2003, this sweeping biography of Jean Cocteau is now available in English for the first time. Arnaud (Chamfort: A Biography) has composed an insightful profile, rich in detail and exhaustive in its scope, that honors and illuminates its multifaceted subject, who was a poet, playwright, author, designer, and filmmaker. The dense tome traces the stormy trajectory of Cocteau's life, beginning with an idyllic childhood shattered by his father's suicide. Amid tragedy, Cocteau developed limitless imagination and fortitude while nurturing a versatile artistic vision that would span five decades and survive two world wars. His questionable politics, complicated sexuality, and well-documented opium addiction have often overshadowed his work, but in this passionate retelling of a life fully lived, Cocteau emerges as a butterfly from a tangled cocoon. He inspired awe and affection from a circle of artistic and intellectual luminaries that included Simone de Beauvoir, Man Ray, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Proust, and Erik Satie, to name a few. Arnaud's poetic prose, skillfully translated by Elkin and Mandell, sharp observations, and devotion to his subject make this an endlessly rewarding read and invaluable addition to readers' understanding and appreciation of Cocteau, the masked Harlequin of French arts and letters.
