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3 reviews
Jean Cocteau

Livre de Poche, 1998

Opium is one of the most important books I have read.
Cocteau is a genius. In Opium, Diary of a Cure, he recounts the experience of his recovery from opium addiction in 1929. He gives an account that sometimes touches on his moment to moment experiences of drug withdrawal, sometimes remarks on his current thoughts about other people and things in his world. Since he lived in the world of avante-garde French culture, his comments include Picasso ...

The Difficulty of Being

2 reviews
Jean Cocteau

Coward-McCann, 1967

unbearable
I find the "lightness" that is so unbearable to others... absolutely alive. I rank this deeply personal exploration of self as a fascinatingly layered first person account of a tattered fringe of human experience. I reel from both the cadence and subtle content.

Drawings

1 review
Jean Cocteau

Dover Publications, 1972

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The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles)

2 reviews
Jean Cocteau, Rosamond Lehmann

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1966

Like a twisted "Dangerous Liaisons"
Elisabeth and Paul, siblings, are orphaned in adolescence and build a private, closed world for themselves that slowly isolates them in their own brand of madness. When Elisabeth discovers that Paul is falling in love with a girl named Agatha (who reminds him of his childhood love Dargelos), she manipulates Gérard (who's in love with Elisabeth) into marrying Agatha. Paul tries to kill himself and ...

The Infernal Machine (Methuen Modern Plays)

2 reviews
Jean Cocteau

Methuen, 1988

Classic Tales By Cocteau
A magnificent collection of plays by Cocteau, this set includes Orpheus, Oedipus Rex, and a preposterous execution of Knights Of The Round Table. Most outstanding is the surreal Eiffel Tower, in which inanimate objects possess mortal properties, and subsequently performing a play within a play. More comprehensive than what he put to film, nevertheless Cocteau writes in a minimalist mark that ...

Les Enfants Terribles

12 reviews
Jean Cocteau

Emc Pub, 1977

at last!
This restoration is awesome. As for the eternal, unresolved debate over whether this is "a Cocteau Film" or "a Melville Film"--I consider it to be Cocteau's masterpiece. That's not easy to say when you consider ORPHEUS and LA BELLE ET LA BETE, is it? Look what we're getting in pristine condition: Cocteau, Stephane, Dermithe AND Bach/Vivaldi...wow

Orphee

1 review
Jean Cocteau, Cocteau

Editions Stock

Poetry of the Body
A surreal retelling of the Orpheus myth, filled with beautiful images painted by the characters' actions. Cocteau considered himself a poet, regardless of the media, and he lives up to his own image with Orphée. From the symbolism of Death releasing a bird, to the creepy vision of Orphée's severed head speaking, this is a work that inspires the mind and the soul.

Tempest of Stars

1 review
Jean Cocteau

Enitharmon Press, 1992

Amazing!
Jean Cocteau's impressionistic poetry is simply amazing. It's in both English and French (and there's some famous erotic drawings by another artist included, which I found to be a little inappropriate) and contains about 20 poems. I loved every poem in the book and found modern allusions to them in bands like The Cure. I strongly recommend this to someone with a love for intellectual poetry.

Beauty and the Beast: Diary of a Film

7 reviews
Jean Cocteau

Peter Smith Pub, 1972

Suffering for his Art
Some have found Cocteau's litany of illnesses that he (and others) suffered while filming "Beauty and the Beast" tedious and skipped over them as seemingly irrelevant. Unfortunately, those who do may miss the entire point of Cocteau's artistic esthetic, namely, the necessity for the artist to suffer and triumph over all adversity for the sake of his art. The suffering is part and parcel of his ...

Jean Cocteau: Erotische Zeichnungen.

1 review
Jean Cocteau, Annie Guedras

Taschen Verlag, 1999

This is erotica at it's highest level
The pencil of Jean Cocteau takes erotic drawing to a dizzying heighth. The gestural line and the anatomical exagerations capture a surrender to the aphrodesiac of man to man physicality. The sophisticated charm of these drawings are so personal and stylish that I would have to say thjey stand on their own,inside the erotic genre.

La Difficulte D'Etre

1 review
Jean Cocteau

Livre de Poche, 1998

Personal accounts prove good and bad though told with style
I read this one in French and I don't think it would translate well. His use of language is what make the book a good read, not his actual accounts. The guy does artwork, makes films, writes poetry and books- let's give him some credit!

Diary of an Unknown: Jean Cocteau

1 review
Jean Cocteau

Marlowe & Co, 1991

Slow moving Essays
Cocteau clarifies his odd obsessions, indignations, and general viewpoints in this drawn out diary of an unknown. The book has its moments but usually reiterates the concepts of invisibility and falsities. For Diehard Cocteau fans.

Human Voice

1 review
Jean Cocteau

Caedmon Audio Cassette, 1985

"I've never had anything to live for but you."
Jean Cocteau's landmark "voice play," published in 1947, is dated after sixty years, a reflection of a society which has changed irrevocably. A middle-aged woman, devastated because her five-year relationship has ended and her lover has moved on, tries to come to grips with her future and largely fails. When her lover calls to offer whatever support he can--and to ask for his belongings by ...

Great Historical Shakespeare Recordings (Audiofy Digital Audiobook Chips)

1 review
William Shakespeare

Audiofy/Naxos, 2004

Good recording, but...
This is fairly heady stuff...here are actual recordings of some of the most famous, influential stage actors from the 19th and 20th centuries taking another bow. The only disappointment is that although the disc comes with a table of contents, it does not state which actor is reading any particular passage. So unless you are old enough to have actually heard Edwin Booth in person, you will have ...

Cocteau

1 review
Dominique Paini, Jean Cocteau, ...

Paul Holberton Publishing, 2004

Awesome book!
Ha Ha. I found it on the sale rack at Barnes and Nobles for $1!!!! It's a great book but 40 bucks? Good Lord Man, don't you know I'm poor.

Les Parents Terribles

1 review
Jean Cocteau

French & European Pubns, 1972

Quirky, odd, delirious, amusing, complex.
Five characters, two different settings, three acts; an overpowering mother, a doting son, a jilted aunt, a lecherous father, and an innocent young girl -- Cocteau takes all of this, and weaves together an odd story of the ultimate dysfunctional family. This translation was used by the Royal National Theatre in London for the recent "revival" of the play, which eventually came to New York and ...

The White Book (Le Livre Blanc)

1 review
Jean Cocteau

City Lights Publishers, 2001

A book about acceptance and tolerance
A young man, sentencing himself to a self-imposed exile, writes a book tracing his infatution with boys. It all begins fairly innocently, with his first glimpse of a nude young man while out hunting. The sight and sensations he feels cause him to faint. Wanting to learn more about his attraction, he tries to trick a young servant into allowing him to experience what he has seen. And, in school, ...

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