Secrets of Beauty
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Widely celebrated for his work in the fields of literature, cinema, and the visual arts, Jean Cocteau was one of the twentieth century’s outstanding creative practitioners. In this collection of brief—often aphoristic—meditations, Jean Cocteau reflects on the fundamental solitariness of the artistic vocation. As well as offering fascinating insights into Cocteau’s own achievements, Secrets of Beauty is a moving testament to the artist’s need and obligation to pursue an independent path, and to the disjunction between art and “the inflexible everyday world”. Juliet Powys’s translation skilfully captures the wit and subtlety of the original French text—a vital contribution to aesthetic theory that deserves to be read as a significant work of literature in its own right.
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Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) was an avant-garde poet and artist. He made his first film, The Blood of a Poet, in 1930. His highly influential works include a cinematic rendering of Beauty and the Beast (1946) that is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. He was inducted into the French Academy in 1955.
Pierre Caizergues is a widely published poet and an authority on the works of Jean Cocteau. He is a former professor at Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 University.
Juliet Powys is a translator specialising in the arts, literature, and architecture. She currently translates for the bilingual contemporary art magazine artpress, as well as for a number of galleries, publishers, and events.
