urn:taro:utexas.hrc.00292 Jean Cocteau: An Inventory of His Papers in the Carlton Lake Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Finding aid created by Monique Daviau, Richard Workman, and Catherine Stollar Collection cataloged with financial assistance from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, 2004 Finding aid encoded in EAD 2002 on July 5, 2004 Finding aid written in English. The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Cocteau, Jean, 1889-1963 Jean Cocteau Papers 1905-1959 (bulk 1910-1928) 11 boxes (4.62 linear feet), 6 oversize folders, 1 bound volume, and 1 galley folder TXRC06-A11 The early personal and professional life of the French poet, novelist, artist, playwright, and filmmaker Jean Cocteau is documented in this collection of manuscripts, correspondence, personal papers, notebooks, drawings, financial and legal documents, and third-party papers, drawn largely from his personal archives. All materials are in French.

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which provided funds for the processing and cataloging of this collection.

 Biographical Sketch

Jean Cocteau, one of the most versatile creative artists of the twentieth century, achieved celebrity as poet, playwright, journalist, novelist, artist, and filmmaker. At the time of his death he was perhaps the best-known French literary figure outside of France.

Born Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau on July 5, 1889, he was a child of affluence, particularly through the Lecomtes on the maternal side of his family. He began writing poetry as a boy and gained entrance into the literary world through his mother's social contacts. At age eighteen his work was the subject of a public reading that brought him his first notoriety, leading to the publication of his first book of poems, La lampe d'Aladin (1909).

In the next few years he met and was influenced by members of the avant-garde, resulting in less traditional works such as the ballet Parade (1917) in collaboration with Erik Satie, Léonide Massine, Sergei Diaghilev, and Pablo Picasso, Le Potomak (1919), a collection of drawings, poetry, and prose, and the poems of Le Cap de Bonne-Espérance (1919).

Cocteau's art received further stimulation from his intense love for the gifted young poet Raymond Radiguet. Their affair ended with Radiguet's death from typhoid at age twenty, but not before the younger poet had guided Cocteau away from modernism and toward a more classical formality.

In the years between the two world wars, Cocteau wrote his first novel ( Le grand écart, 1923), his first nonmusical play ( Antigone, 1922), and his first film ( Le sang d'un poète, 1932). For the rest of his life, in spite of his struggles with opium addiction, he continued to produce an enormous quantity of work and maintained his public prominence.

In 1949 Cocteau was made Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. In 1955 he was elected to the Académie Royale de Langue et de Littérature Françaises of Belgium and also to the Académie Française.

He died October 11, 1963, and is buried in the chapel of Saint-Blaise-des-Simples in Milly-la-Forêt, France.

 Sources: Lake, Carlton. Confessions of a Literary Archaeologist. New York: New Directions, 1990. Moulaison, Glenn. Jean Cocteau. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 258: Modern French Poets. http://www.galegroup.com (accessed May 19, 2004).

Steegmuller, Francis. Cocteau: A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970. Scope and Contents

The personal and professional life of French poet, novelist, artist, playwright, and filmmaker Jean Cocteau is reflected in the Carlton Lake collection of Cocteau's manuscripts, correspondence, personal papers, notebooks, drawings, financial and legal documents, and third-party papers. The collection is arranged in four series: I. Works, 1910-1929 (6.5 boxes); II. Correspondence, 1913-1959 (2.5 boxes); III. Personal, 1908-1950 (1 box); and IV. Third-Party Works and Correspondence, 1905-1925 (1 box).

The bulk of the collection is a large portion of Cocteau's personal archives that was sold without his permission to a French dealer in 1935. (For a detailed history of the papers, see chapter nine of Lake's Confessions of a Literary Archaeologist.) Because the papers went to the dealer in several small lots, it has not been possible to be certain of Cocteau's original arrangement. Therefore, works have been arranged alphabetically by title and correpondence alphabetically by correspondent.

Within the Works series are manuscripts or proofs of most of Cocteau's writings until about 1928, a period that encompassed some of his best work, including Le Cap de Bonne-Espérance, Le coq et l'arlequin, Les enfants terribles, Le grand écart, Le livre blanc, Les mariés de la tour Eiffel, La noce massacrée, Le Potomak, and Thomas l'imposteur. Many of the manuscripts and notebooks also contain drawings. Because the bulk of the archives predates Cocteau's involvement with the cinema, that aspect of his work is largely not documented.

Within the Correspondence series, the folder of Cocteau's letters to Henri Lefebvre is actually the dossier of Lefebvre's dealings with Cocteau and the sellers of Cocteau's papers (this is the file referred to in Lake's Confessions by the title Affaire Cocteau). Cocteau's letterswhich frequently concern his writing, his philosophy, and his personal life'are, like his works, sprinkled with drawings. Prominent among his correspondents are Jean and Valentine Hugo, Max Jacob, Marie Laurencin, and Francis Poulenc.

The Personal series includes inscriptions from other authors to Cocteau on tear-sheets, address books, an autograph book from the beginning of his career, and various documents such as his birth certificate, plans for the decoration of his apartment, and a menu from a dinner at Le Boeuf sur le Toit.

Among the Third-Party Works and Correspondence are letters from Cocteau's mother to Valentine Hugo, and works by Raymond Radiguet as well as letters to him from various correspondents.

 Acquisition:

Gifts and purchases, 1966, 1969, 1973, 1977, 1987, 1997 (G846, G2793, G2966, R5180, R5374, R5883, R7748, G10713)

Related Material:

Elsewhere in the Ransom Center, the Lake Art Collection contains a large number of works by Cocteau.

 Access:

Open for research. Permission from copyright holder must accompany photoduplication requests for Jean Cocteau materials.

 Processed by:

Monique Daviau, Catherine Stollar, Richard Workman, 2004

Index Terms Correspondents Cocteau, Eugénie, b. 1855. Hugo, Jean, 1894- . Hugo, Valentine, 1887-1968. Jacob, Max, 1876-1944. Laurencin, Marie, 1883-1956. Poulenc, Francis, 1899-1963. Radiguet, Raymond, 1903-1923. Subjects Novelists, French. Poets, French. Document Types Address books. Autograph albums. Birth certificates. Galley proofs. Page proofs. Jean Cocteau Papers--Folder List Series I. Works, 1910-1929, nd 39.3 A-B 39.4 Art poétique (Version définitive), handwritten signed manuscript in notebook, 1916 39.5 C Le Cap de Bonne-Espérance (1919) 39.6-7 Handwritten manuscripts with revisions 1915-1917, nd 39.8 Dédicace, handwritten manuscript, three versions, 1916, nd 39.9 Typed manuscript and carbon copy, 1917 39.10 Typed carbon copy, nd 40.1 First page proofs with handwritten manuscript page and correspondence with printer laid in, 1918, nd 40.2 Galley and page proofs with handwritten corrections, 1919 40.3 Page proofs with handwritten final page and sample cover, 1919 Carte blanche (1920) 40.4 Two handwritten manuscripts and photocopy of published article from Paris-Midi, 1919, nd 40.5 Two handwritten signed manuscripts, nd 40.6 Typescript with handwritten title page, 1919 40.7 Galley proofs, nd 40.8 La chanson des anémones, handwritten and typed carbon copy manuscripts, nd 40.9 Les chansons du prince frivole (published as Le prince frivole , 1910), proofs with extensive handwritten corrections and additions, 1910 Le coq et l'arlequin (1918) 40.10 Handwritten first draft with sketches, 1918 bv5 Handwritten, typed, and carbon copy manuscript, 1918 40.11 Printed copy with pencil margin markings, 1918 41.1 D os18 David, handwritten unfinished script, nd 41.2 Démarche d'un poète, typed carbon copy manuscript, nd 41.3-4 Dessins (1923), proofs, 1924 41.5 E os19 Une education sentimentale, signed handwritten manuscript, nd 41.6 En écoutant un rossignol à Blidah, handwritten manuscript with typed carbon copies, nd 41.7 Les enfants terribles (1929), typed carbon copy manuscript with handwritten revisions, and incomplete page proofs, 1929, nd os20 Escales, proofs, nd 41.8 F-K 41.9 Un genre nouveau, handwritten manuscript, nd Le grand écart (1923) 41.10-11 Typed carbon copy manuscript, two copies, 1923 42.1 Page proofs with handwritten additions, bound, 1923 42.2 L-M Le livre blanc (1928) 42.3 Typed carbon copy manuscript, nd 42.4 Typed carbon copy manuscript with extensive handwritten revisions, 1927 42.5-7 Page proofs with handwritten corrections, 1928 42.8 Les livres, handwritten manuscript with carbon copies, nd Les mariés de la tour Eiffel (1921) 42.9 Handwritten manuscript, titled La noce massacrée, nd 42.10 Typescript, titled La noce massacrée ou Les mariés de la tour Eiffel, nd 42.11 Le mystère laïc: Chirico'un essai de critique, handwritten and typed manuscript, with typed carbon copy fragments of a later version, 1928 43.1 N 43.2 Ne plus voir que ce port, manuscript and typed carbon copy, nd La noce massacré (1921) 43.3 Le rire de Goya, handwritten manuscript (unpublished), 1916 43.4 Handwritten draft with drawings in sketchbook, 1917 43.5 Printer's copy, 1917, 1920 43.6 Proofs with handwritten revisions and inserts, 1920 43.7 Proofs, nd 43.8 Notebook, nd 43.9 Notebook on art, music, poetry, nd 43.10 O Opéra, 1927 43.11 Handwritten manuscript, 1927 43.12 Typescript and carbon copy, 1927 43.13 Page proofs, 1927 43.14 P 44.1 Les parents terribles (1938), handwritten draft, nd 44.2 Picasso (1923/1926), typed carbon copy manuscript, 1924 44.3 Poème autour d'une fleur de Datura, handwritten manuscript with typed carbon copies, 1913 os21 Poèmes, handwritten manuscripts, 1915-1920s Poésies (1920) 44.4 Handwritten manuscript with revisions and printed page, 1915-1919 44.5 Proofs, incomplete, nd Le Potomak (1919) Page proofs Mercure de France edition (unpublished) 44.6-7 Few handwritten corrections and emendations, 330 pp., nd 44.8 Incomplete, 312 pp., nd Société Littéraire de France edition (1919) 44.9-10 Handwritten corrections and revisions, 390 pp., nd 45.1-2 Handwritten insert and few corrections, 422 pp., 1919 45.3 Q-S 45.4 T Thomas l'imposteur (1923) 45.5 Histoire, typed manuscript, 1923 45.6 Préface, typed manuscript with handwritten changes, nd 45.8 Three poems, handwritten manuscript with typed copy, nd 45.9 24 poems, handwritten manuscript with printed page, 1925, nd 45.10 U-Z 45.11 Miscellaneous fragments, drafts, and sketches, nd 45.12 Unidentified Series II. Correspondence, 1913-1959, nd Outgoing, 1916-1959, nd 46.1 A-G 46.2 H-Z 46.3 Hugo, Jean, 1919 46.4-5 Hugo, Valentine, 1916-1959, nd 46.6 Lefebvre, Henri, 1935 46.7 Unidentified, 1925-1958, nd Incoming, 1913-1928, nd 46.8 A 46.9 B 46.10 C-D 46.11 E-H 47.1 I-L 47.2-6 Jacob, Max, 1919-1927 47.7 Laurencin, Marie, 1920-1928, nd 48.1 M-O 48.2 P-Q 48.3 Poulenc, Francis, 1919-1921, nd 48.4 R-S 48.5 T-Z 48.6 Unidentified, 1913-1931, nd Series III. Personal, 1908-1950, nd 48.7 A-Z 48.8 Address book, nd 49.1 Inscriptions, 1924-1925, nd 49.2-3 Livre d'addresses, service, nd 49.4 Livre d'or (autograph book), 1908-1909 49.5 Reines de la France (dossier), 1949-1950 49.6 Miscellaneous Series IV. Third-Party Works and Correspondence, 1905-1925, nd Works 49.7 A-Z os22 Cafagna, Maria Pia 49.8, g2 Crosland, Margaret, nd os22 Mathis, Edmund 49.9 Tailhade, Laurent, 1908 49.10 Unidentified, 1905, nd Correspondence 50.1 A-C 50.2 Cocteau, Eugénie, 1918-1925 50.3 D-Q 50.4 Doucet, Jacques, 1919-1920 50.5 R-Z 50.6 Unidentified, nd