Jean Cocteau : a life / Claude Arnaud ; translated by Lauren Elkin and Charlotte Mandell.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 984-989) and index.

Unevenly respected, easily hated, almost always suspected of being inferior to his reputation, Jean Cocteau has often been thought of as a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. In this landmark biography, Claude Arnaud thoroughly contests this characterization, as he celebrates Cocteau's "fragile genius--a combination almost unlivable in art" but in his case so fertile. Arnaud narrates the life of this legendary French novelist, poet, playwright, director, filmmaker, and designer who, as a young man, pretended to be a sort of god, but who died as a humble and exhausted craftsman. His moving and compassionate account examines the nature of Cocteau's chameleon-like genius, his romantic attachments, his controversial politics, and his intimate involvement with many of the century's leading artistic lights, including Picasso, Proust, Hemingway, Stravinsky, and Tennessee Williams. Already published to great critical acclaim in France, Arnaud's penetrating and deeply researched work reveals a uniquely gifted artist while offering a magnificent cultural history of the twentieth century -- Book jacket.

The child prodigy -- Ariel -- The living god -- The molting -- The war as opera -- The ordeal of Bohemia -- The parade of peace -- With Radiguet -- All against Dada -- The miraculous years -- Genealogy of a tragedy -- The angel's dream -- La Croix et la BannieÌre -- 'Raymond has returned" -- The sound of the fall -- The tragic years -- The decadent one -- The resurrection -- The occupied -- In the heart of the furnace -- The universal suspect -- The unfashionable -- Who is the greatest genius of the century? -- The survivor.

Translated from the French.