Jean Cocteau : a life / Claude Arnaud ; translated by Lauren Elkin and Charlotte Mandell.
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-trad...
Saved in:
| Online Access: |
Full text (Emerson users only) |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Contributors: | , |
| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English French |
| Published: |
New Haven :
Yale University Press,
[2016]
|
| Series: | Degruyterct.
|
| Subjects: | |
| Genre/Form: | Biographies |
| Local Note: | ProQuest Ebook Central |
| Summary: | 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 |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (viii, 1014 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 0300182163 9780300182163 |
| Language: | Translated from the French. |