Customer Reviews

The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Elisabeth and Paul, siblings, are orphaned in adolescence and build a private, closed world for themselves that slowly isolates them in their own brand of madness. When Elisabeth discovers that Paul is falling in love with a girl named Agatha (who reminds him of his childhood love Dargelos), she manipulates Gérard (who's in love with Elisabeth) into marrying Agatha. Paul tries to kill himself and confesses to Agatha, and the two piece together Elisabeth's treachery, leading to the story's final, implosive end. Cocteau's novel is magnificent, and wait until you see the movie based on this...

Read it straight through in one sitting...No joke.

It's about a brother and sister who create their own universe. Really amazing.

Jean Cocteu's work is beyond compare & The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles) is a great starter kit for those unfamiliar with his genius.

Cocteau works his magic slowly & once you're under its spell, you won't put up a fight. Try it, you'll like it...it's an all ages show.

I am sorry to disappoint buth the volume listed here is Les Monstres Sacres - a play in 3 acts by Cocteau from 1940 and not the famous novel. It is one of Cocteau's less exciting pieces - a wordy parlour play - his attempt at a comedy of manners. Doesn't quite have that bite.