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Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( July 5 , 1889 – October 11 , 1963 ) was a French Poet , Novelist , Dramatist , Designer , Boxing manager and Filmmaker . He was born at Maisons-Lafitte , France , a small town near Paris . His versatile, unconventional approach and enormous output brought him international acclaim. EARLY YEARS Despite his achievements in virtually all literary and artistic fields, Cocteau insisted that he was primarily a poet and that all his work was poetry. As an important exponent of Surrealism , he had great influence on the work of others, including the group of composer friends in Montparnasse known as Les Six . The word Surrealism was coined, in fact, by Guillaume Apollinaire to describe Cocteau's 1917 collaboration with Erik Satie , Pablo Picasso , and Léonide Massine ''Parade''. Self-proclaimed Surrealism leader André Breton , nonetheless, declared Cocteau a "notorious ''false poet'', a versifier who happens to ''debase'' rather than to ''elevate'' everything he touches" (Breton, 1953 ). RELATIONSHIP WITH RAYMOND RADIGUET In 1918 he met the 15-year-old poet Raymond Radiguet . The two collaborated extensively, socialized, and undertook many journeys and vacations together. Cocteau got the youth exempted from military service and exerted his influence to garner the "Nouveau Monde" literary prize for Radiguet's first novel, ''Le Diable au Corps.'' It has been suggested that they had an intense and often stormy love relationship until the latter's premature death in Paris of Typhoid fever, but only circumstantial evidence for the existence of this relationship exists. ''See Historical Pederastic Relationships .'' Cocteau, however, was certainly attracted to Radiguet's great literary talent and did promote Radiguet's works in his artistic Circle. Cocteau arranged for the publication by Grasset of "Le Diable au Corps" (a story of an adulterous relationship between a married woman and a younger man, which was largely autobiographical. Claims that Radiguet's death was a blow to Cocteau are questioned by some who point out that he did not attend the funeral (he generally did not attend funerals) and immediately left Paris with Serge de Diaghilev for a performance of the Ballets Russes at Monte Carlo. Cocteau himself characterised his reaction as one of "stupor and disgust". While it has been suggested that Radiguet's death led to the writer's subsequent addiction to '', was written in a week during a strenuous opium weaning. MATURITY | |||||||||
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