Jean Cocteau, French multi-talented writer and artist, famous for Children of the Game, collaborated with designers and composers, both on stage and in films. He invented theatre scenarios including ballet, and directed films he scripted himself. As a writer and artist, he permeated his vast knowledge in various fields and his experiences with panache and witty humor.
Early Life of Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Cocteau was born on July 5, 1889, in Maisons-Lafitte, near Paris into a cultured middle-class family.
At age 20 he published his first volume of poetry, Aladdin's Lamp. That year he also met the famous Russian ballet-impresario Sergei Diaghilev who ran the Ballets Russes and who challenged the young Cocteau to write for the ballet.
During this time Cocteau also met the composer Igor Stravinsky who was working on his now famous The Rite of Spring composition. He also collaborated with and became spokesman of the famous French group of composers, Les Six, a group formed by Eric Satie.
Cocteau's Plays and Novels
From then on, Cocteau embarked on his long career of artistic expression in various forms through writing, acting, designing and music. In his 30s he wrote several important works, including the play Orpheus and the novels Thomas the Impostor and The Infernal Machine, which is based on Oedipus Rex by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles.
His most famous novel, Children of the Game (Les Enfants Terribles), was published when he was 40. It is a terrifying story of four children who became trapped in their own spooky world.
Cocteau in Films
Later, Cocteau turned to filmmaking. In addition to some of his earlier film work, including Children of the Game and Orpheus, he created a number of surrealist films, including the successful Beauty and the Beast.
Literary Writer and Artist
Cocteau's life was rich with experience. He was an ambulance driver at the front in World War I. After the war, he became involved with a young man, a writer. When his lover died, Cocteau became addicted to opium. He eventually recovered from his addiction, an experience he wrote about in Opium. He died of a heart failure on October 11, 1963, at the age of 74.
Works by Jean Cocteau
- Aladdin's Lamp, 1909, Poetry
- The Potomac, 1919, Novel
- The Eiffel Tower Wedding Party, 1921, Play
- The Grand Escort, 1923, Novel
- Thomas the Impostor, 1923, Novel
- Orpheus, 1926, Play
- Children of the Game (Les Enfants Terribles), 1929, Novel
- The Human Voice, 1930, Libretto of a one-opera
- Opium, 1930, Memoir
- The Infernal Machine, 1934, Play
- Beauty and the Beast, 1945, Play
- The Eagle Has Two Heads, 1946, Play
Sources:
Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers (2002)
Dictionary of Literature, Brockhampton Press (1995)
Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Larousse (1994)
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