Jean Cocteau Summary

The French writer Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) explored nostalgia for childhood and adolescence, frustration in love, and fear of solitude and death.Jean Cocteau was born in a suburb of Paris and brought ... Read more

Jean Cocteau's role in twentieth-century French poetry is not unlike that of the rather too talkative Sphinx in his play, La Machine infernale (1934; translated as The Infernal Machine, 1936), who as... Read more

Critical Essay by Paul West The caducity of Jean Cocteau's Le Grand Écart (1923) and Thomas l'imposteur (1925) constantly suggests that he has nothing to say; however, in Les Enf... Read more

Critical Essay by Wallace Fowlie The two principal schools of French style have often been ascribed to the Latin rhetorical style, as illustrated in the sermons of Bossuet and the rich periodic prose... Read more

Critical Essay by Bosley Crowther It is hard to think of anybody (with the evident exception of Jean Cocteau) who, however egotistical he might be, would have the nerve to make a full-length film abo... Read more

Critical Essay by Bosley Crowther It sometimes helps if a reviewer has a faint idea of what a film he is reviewing is supposed to be about. That is, at least, some information which he can pass along... Read more

Critical Essay by Neal Oxenhandler What Cocteau has attempted to do in his films is to convey, through the cinematic medium, the conception of poetry which exists in his purely literary works. Let me... Read more

In the following essay, Gates considers Cocteau's attitude toward poetry and the physical aspects of theatre, particularly in three of his plays: Parade, Le Boeuf sur le toit, and Les Mari�... Read more

In the following essay, Cujec asserts that Cocteau's early classical adaptations—Antigone, Oedipus-Rex, Oedipe-Roi—are “bold avant-garde experiments reflecting the radical ... Read more

In the following essay, Christensen evaluates the significance of Cocteau's Le Portrait surnaturel de Dorian Gray and discusses the issue of homosexuality in the play. In the twenty-two year... Read more

In the following essay, Long contrasts the mythical, dramatic, and cinematic versions of Orphée, emphasizing Cocteau's versions of the Greek myth. 1. No one should any longer question... Read more

In the following review, Carter critiques a production of The Infernal Machine performed at the Arts Theatre Club. The name of Mr. Oliver Messel is printed as large as the author's. And how... Read more

In the following essay, Winegarten reexamines Cocteau's achievements in light of the publication of his diaries and letters. In general a purely poetical subject is as superior to a politica... Read more

In the following essay, Franko discusses the presentation of gay identity and gender roles in Cocteau's “Une leçon de théâtre: Le numéro Barbette” and ... Read more

In the following essay, Hatte examines the significance of the appearance of snow in Les Enfants terribles and its meaning to the “mythology” of Cocteau's other works. Snow app... Read more

In the following essay, Christensen questions Cocteau's possible reasons for not attempting to have his adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray performed, as well as his o... Read more

In the following essay, Grayson argues that the children in Les Enfants terribles represent a pre-Oedipal refusal to acknowledge the separation of self from other. Traditional interpretations of Le... Read more

In the following essay, Gates discusses Cocteau's dislike of narrative poetry in drama, noting that he preferred instead to use all the characteristics of theatrical production as poetic elemen... Read more