Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Cocteau, Jean (Vol. 15) - Paul West

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PAUL WEST

The caducity of Jean Cocteau's Le Grand Écart (1923) and Thomas l'imposteur (1925) constantly suggests that he has nothing to say; however, in Les Enfants terribles (1929) the rigmaroles and fantasies of adolescence are fondly sketched without being explored in the manner of, say, Henry Green or L. P. Hartley. Of Les Enfants Cocteau says in Opium; 'it was written during an obsession with "Make Believe" (Show Boat); those who like the book should buy the record and play it while re-reading'. We are reminded that Cocteau … is the capital amuseur, a child of the Jazz Age. Fantasy and somnambulism come naturally to him as the spiritual equivalents of Morand's heady steeplechases from capital to capital (always in weird company) or of Giraudoux's couture-minded female Crusoe. Such were the escapes from post-war frustration. They also provided their authors with the germ of more substantial works:...

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1. Introduction
2. Paul West
3. Leon S. Roudiez
4. Wallace Fowlie
5. Frank W. D. Ries
6. Copyright