THIS IS THE DIARY JUNCTION - DATA AND LINKS FOR OVER 500 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY DIARISTS
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT ALSO TO LOOK AT KIP FENN, A MAJOR NOVEL ABOUT THE 21st CENTURY
- freely available on this site
Cocteau, Jean ___ 1889-1963 ___ French
___ writer, director
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Cocteau was born at Maisons-Laffitte,
near Paris, but his father, a lawyer and amateur painter, committed suicide
in 1898. He left school young, and became friends with the actor Edouard
de Max who encouraged his poetry writing. A first book, 'La Lampe d'Aladin',
was published in 1909. The same year also saw the arrival of Ballets Russes
and Sergey Diaghilev to Paris, who involved Cocteau in the theatre world.
During World War I, Cocteau served as an ambulance driver; he also met many
other writers and artists that gathered in Paris. By 1923, he had become
addicted to opium, and, while trying to recover, produced various works,
such as the play 'Orpheus', the novel 'Children of the Game', and a first
film 'Blood of a Poet'. 'Les Enfants Terribles', which is considered Cocteau's
finest work was published in 1929. The same year, he was admitted to hospital
with opium poisoning. In the 1930s, Cocteau focused increasingly on films,
although in 1936 he undertook a journey round the world, one similar to
that described in Jules Verne's story. In the following year, he met the
actor Jean Marais, with whom he had a close friendship. During World War
II, the Vichy government branded Cocteau a decadent, although he troubled
some artistic colleagues by writing a salute to a fascist artist. After
the war, he made 'Beauty and the Beast' and turned both 'Orpheus' and 'Les
Enfants Terribles' into films. Cocteau's diaries have been published in
English in various forms, covering various periods.
One
biography link
DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1928-1963 ___ travel people film
art culture society creativity self love/sex health
WEB TEXT LINKS
about
the diary
ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Past Tense: The Cocteau Diaries
Opium: The Diary of a Cure
My Journey Round the World
May 2005
THIS IS THE DIARY JUNCTION - DATA AND LINKS FOR OVER 500 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY DIARISTS
Please
email if you have any corrections, additions or comments. |
IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS:
1) The first line of basic information
may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different
names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or
uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown,
or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British'
a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was
compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts
were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if
they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates
and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with
caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are
only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies.
4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges,
and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising.
I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some
variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited
myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their
original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the
titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries. |