Author: Jean Cocteau
Profile: Jean Maurice Eugene Clement Cocteau also called Jean Cocteau was a French novelist, poet, playwright, designer, critic, filmmaker, dramatist and visual artist. He was born in Maisons-Laffitte, France and died in Milly-la-Foret, France. His partners were Raymond Radiguet (1919-1923), Jean Bourgoint (1925), Jean Desbordes (1926-1933), Marcel Khill (1933-1937), Jean Marais (1938-1963) and Edouard Dermit (1947-1963). He was also known as the Frivolous Prince. His Parisian family was prominent in society. He left home at the age of fifteen and published, Aladdin’s Lamp, his first volume of poem at the age of nineteen. Within no time he became popular as The Frivolous Prince in Bohemian artistic circles. The Frivolous Prince was the title of a volume he published at the age of twenty two.
In his twenties he associated himself with a lot of writers, collaborated with popular dancers, met poets and artists. Jean Cocteau had tremendous influence on the work of others and was a vital exponent of avant-garde art. He socialized, collaborated and undertook a number of vacations and journeys with Raymond Radiguet, the French poet. Jean was deeply saddened on the sudden death of Raymond in 1923. During the later years of his life he was associated with his films mostly which were directed and written by him. He never tried to hide his homosexuality.
Writing style: Classifying the great range of his works including drawings, poems, essays, plays, novels and films, Jean Cocteau insisted that he be called a poet. Jean Cocteau is described as a man to whom every great poetry line was a sunrise and every sunset was the foundation of the Heavenly City.
Published Texts:
Filmography
1930 – The Blood of a Poet
1948 – The Eagle with Two Heads
1950 – Orpheus
1960 – The Testament of Orpheus
Poetry
1909 – La Lampe d’Aladin
1910 – Le Prince frivole
1912 – La Danse de Sophocle
1919 – Ode à Picasso – Le Cap de Bonne-Espérance
1920 – Escale. Poésies (1917–1920)
1922 – Vocabulaire
1923 – La Rose de François – Plain-Chant
1925- Cri écrit
1926 – L’Ange Heurtebise
1927 – Opéra
1934 – Mythologie
1939 – Énigmes
1941 – Allégories
1945 – Léone
1946 – La Crucifixion
1948 – Poèmes
1952- Le Chiffre sept – La Nappe du Catalan (in collaboration with Georges Hugnet
1953 – Dentelles d’éternité – Appoggiatures
1954 – Clair-obscur
1958 – Paraprosodies
1961- Cérémonial espagnol du Phénix – La Partie d’échecs
1962 – Le Requiem
1968 – Faire-Part (posthume)
Novels
1919 – Le Potomak
1923 – Le Grand Ecart
1928 – Le Livre blanc
1929 – Les Enfants terribles
1940 – La Fin du Potomak
Awards and Acknowledgements:
1955 – Made a member of the Academie francaise and The Royal Academy of Belgium
He has been Member of the American Academy, Mallarme Academy, Mark Twain (USA) Academy and German Academy (Berlin)
He was Commander of the Legion of Honor and President of the Cannes Film Festival
He was honorary President of the France-Hungary Association and President of the Jazz Academy and of the Academy of the Disc
