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Emily Winfield Martin: IMG Powell’s Q&A: Emily Winfield Martin

2 comments By Emily Winfield Martin

Describe your new book. Oddfellow's Orphanage is a series of stories/vignettes that tell the tale of the newest arrival to a curious orphanage, a... Continue »
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    Oddfellow's Orphanage

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1 Beaverton Film and Television- Directors
1 Burnside Film and Television- Production Biographies

Jean Cocteau (Reaktion Books - Critical Lives)

by James S Williams

Jean Cocteau (Reaktion Books - Critical Lives) Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Despite Jean Cocteau’s renown as a leading figure in European cinema, his work and life have rarely been examined together. Evaluating Cocteau’s career and his fascinating personal life on equal terms, James Williams offers here a groundbreaking analysis that sets them both within highly revealing historical and artistic contexts.

Williams’s biographical investigation of this poet, dramatist, novelist, designer, and filmmaker centers around Cocteau’s constant self-questioning and how it permeated his work. From Cocteau’s work in fashion and photography to his formal experimentation to his extensive collaborations with male friends and lovers, the book charts the complex and unpredictable evolution of his work and aesthetic. Williams argues that Cocteau’s body of work is best viewed as an ethical, erotic project of aesthetics that carries important ramifications for our contemporary understanding of being and subjectivity.

An engaging and wholly accessible account, Jean Cocteau is essential reading for all those fascinated by the man and his unforgettable films.

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About the Author

James S. Williams is professor of modern French literature and film at Royal Holloway, University of London and is also author of Jean Cocteau (French Film Directors).
 
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Table of Contents

Introduction: The Living Artist and the Posthumous Work
1. Paradise Lived and Lost
2. Natural-born Legend
3. Prince in Exile
4. Russian Lessons
5. Cocteau's First War
6. The Greatest Battle
7. Happy Families
8. Genius of France
9. A Child Carrying a Cane
10. Annus Mirabilis / Annus Miserabilis
11. Lost in the Wilderness
12. An Ass Bearing the Lord
13. Miracle or Simulacrum?
14. Body and Blood of a Poet
15. Tripping Across the World
16. Enter Apollo
17. World War Redux
18. No Man's Land
19. Club Santo-Sospir
20. The Long Haul
21. Jean Cocteau is Dead, Long Live Cocteau!
 
References
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements

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Product Details

ISBN:
9781861893543
Author:
Williams, James S
Publisher:
Reaktion Books
Author:
Williams, James S.
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Entertainment & Performing Arts - Movie Directors
Subject:
Biography-Literary
Copyright:
2008
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series:
Reaktion Books - Critical Lives
Publication Date:
20080131
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Language:
English
Illustrations:
30 halftones
Pages:
192
Dimensions:
7.88 x 5 in
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Jean Cocteau (Reaktion Books - Critical Lives) Used Trade Paper
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