The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles) [Paperback]

Jean Cocteau (Author), Rosamond Lehmann (Translator)

Book Description

Series: New Directions Paperbook, Ndp212 | Publication Date: January 17, 1966

Cocteau's novel Les Enfants Terribles, which was first published in 1929, holds an undisputed place among the classics of modern fiction.

Written in a French style that long defied successful translation—Cocteau was always a poet no matter what we was writing—the book came into its own for English-language readers in 1955 when this translation was completed by Rosamund Lehmann. It is a masterpiece of the art of translation of which the Times Literary Supplement said: "It has the rare merit of reading as though it were an English original." Lehrmann was able to capture the essence of Cocteau's strange, necromantic imagination and to bring fully to life in English his story of a brother and sister, orphaned in adolescence, who build themselves a private world out of one shared room and their own unbridled fantasies. What started in games and laughter because for Paul and Elisabeth a drug too magical to resist. The crime which finally destroys them has the inevitability of Greek tragedy. Illustrated with twenty of Cocteau's own drawings.

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: New Directions (January 17, 1966)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811200213
• ISBN-13: 978-0811200219
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing, December 30, 2008

By 

Lovely Reader (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles) (Paperback)

Having never even read Jean Cocteau's poetry, I was completely unprepared for this disturbing story. It starts out innocently enough, with a childhood snowball fight, but the reader is soon enveloped in the fantasy world created by Paul and his sister Elisabeth. But as they grow older, and their competing magnetic personalities enslave their friends, they find themselves almost completely removed from reality and heading toward disaster. Paul and Elisabeth and neither likable or unlikable...they seem to be completely above our likes and dislikes.

This book is a fairly quick and easy read, but it's still rich in its language and with unforgettable characters. It should also appeal to a wide range of readers. Anyone who enjoys French literature, psychological drama, Shakespearean tragedies, or fantasy fiction will really enjoy this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book, December 30, 2007

By 

Andrey - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles) (Paperback)

The book starts out as an innocent coming-of-age story but transforms itself into a macabre phantasmagoric thriller towards the end.

Breathtakingly beautiful Cocteau's style illuminates the themes of teenage friendship and love, jealousy and cruelty, his imagination creating grotesque and twisted but eminently fascinating and haunting images.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent translation of Les enfants terribles., September 28, 2008

By 

Diana Ferguson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles) (Paperback)

Whilst one can seldom recapture all of the cultural and linguistic nuances in undertaking such a translation, this work admirably maintains the integrity of the original work.