Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (July 5, 1889 – October 11, 1963) was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker. He was born at Maisons-Lafitte, France, a small town near Paris. His versatile, unconventional approach and enormous output brought him international acclaim.

Early years

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Cocteau was born in Maisons-Lafitte into a prominent Parisian family. His father was a lawyer and amateur painter, who committed suicide when Cocteau was nine. At the age of fifteen, Cocteau left home. Despite his achievements in virtually all literary and artistic fields, Cocteau insisted that he was primarily a poet and that all his work was poetry. He published his first volume of poems, Aladdin's Lamp, at nineteen. Soon Cocteau became known in the bohemian artistic circles as 'The Frivolous Prince' - the title of a volume he published at twenty-one. Edith Wharton described him as a man "to whom every great line of poetry was a sunrise, every sunset the foundation of the Heavenly City..."

In his early twenties, Cocteau became associated with Marcel Proust, André Gide, and Maurice Barrès. The Russian ballet-master Sergei Diaghilev challenged Cocteau to write for the ballet - "Surprise me," he urged. This resulted in Parade which was produced by Diaghilev, designed by Pablo Picasso, and composed by Erik Satie in 1917. An important exponent of Surrealism, he had great influence on the work of others, including the group of composer friends in Montparnasse known as Les Six. The word Surrealism was coined, in fact, by Guillaume Apollinaire to describe Parade, a work which was initially not well-received. "If it had not been for Apollinaire in uniform," wrote Cocteau, "with his skull shaved, the scar on his temple and the bandage around his head, women would have gouged our eyes out with hairpins."

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Cocteau's "Opium" changed Cortazar's way of writing: http://www.amazon.com/Opium-Jean-Cocteau/dp/0720608007
minorgodzilla (minor godzilla) Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:34:58 -0000
Cocteau's "Opium" changed Cortazar's way of writing: http://www.amazon.com/Opium-Jean-Cocteau/dp/0720608007
@londonbridgez @mosdefaqueen thank ya darling ! The poet doesn't invent. He listens. ~Jean Cocteau ***;I'm listening...;-) It's all love!
mosdefaqueen (mosdefaqueen) Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:15:59 -0000
@londonbridgez @mosdefaqueen thank ya darling ! The poet doesn't invent. He listens. ~Jean Cocteau ***;I'm listening...;-) It's all love!
A film is a petrified fountain of thought.-Jean Cocteau
mbwconsulting (MBW Consulting) Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:42:13 -0000
A film is a petrified fountain of thought.-Jean Cocteau
Vivastreet -Art- € 1 700 - Art - jean cocteau: distributeur de papiers en méta.. http://bit.ly/8w7bje #art #antiquite
jardin_maison (jardin_maison) Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:02:18 -0000
Vivastreet -Art- € 1 700 - Art - jean cocteau: distributeur de papiers en méta.. http://bit.ly/8w7bje #art #antiquite
We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like? - Jean Cocteau #quote
Ashaw69 (Alan Shaw) Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:02:29 -0000
We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like? - Jean Cocteau #quote
@atomicdarinka =) qué tal uno de Jean Cocteau?
BigbossAZF (J. Castillo) Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:50:37 -0000
@atomicdarinka =) qué tal uno de Jean Cocteau?

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