Raymond Radiguet facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Raymond Radiguet
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| Born | 18 June 1903 Saint-Maur, France
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| Died | 12 December 1923 (aged 20) Paris, France
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| Occupation | Novelist, poet |
| Known for | Le Diable au corps Le bal du Comte d'Orgel |
| Partner(s) | Jean Cocteau (1919–1923) |
Raymond Radiguet (18 June 1903 – 12 December 1923) was a French novelist and poet whose two novels were noted for their explicit themes, and unique style and tone.
Early life
Radiguet was born in Saint-Maur, Val-de-Marne, close to Paris, the son of a caricaturist. In 1917, he moved to the city. Soon he would drop out of the Lycée Charlemagne, where he studied, in order to pursue his interests in journalism and literature.
Career
In early 1923, Radiguet published his first and most famous novel, Le Diable au corps (The Devil in the Flesh). His second novel, Le bal du Comte d'Orgel (The Ball of Count Orgel) was only published posthumously in 1924.
In addition to his two novels, Radiguet's works include a few poetry volumes and a play.
Associations
He associated himself with the Modernist set, befriending Pablo Picasso, Max Jacob, Jean Hugo, Juan Gris and especially Jean Cocteau, who became his mentor.
Literary reactions
In 1945, Steadman and Blake write that admirers of his first novel "include the most discriminating of critics." Aldous Huxley is quoted as declaring that Radiguet had attained the literary control that others required a long career to reach. François Mauriac said that Le Diable au corps is "unretouched and seems shocking, but nothing so resembles cynicism as clairvoyance. No adolescent before Radiguet has delivered to us the secret of that age: we have all falsified it."
Death
On 12 December 1923, Radiguet died at age 20 in Paris of typhoid fever, which he contracted after a trip he took with Cocteau. Cocteau, in an interview with The Paris Review, stated that Radiguet had told him three days before his death that, "In three days, I am going to be shot by the soldiers of God." In reaction to this death Francis Poulenc wrote, "For two days I was unable to do anything, I was so stunned".
In her 1932 memoir, Laughing Torso, British artist Nina Hamnett describes Radiguet's funeral: "The church was crowded with people. In the pew in front of us was the negro band from Le Boeuf sur le Toit. Picasso was there, Brâncuși and so many celebrated people that I cannot remember their names. Radiguet's death was a terrible shock to everyone. Coco Chanel, the celebrated dressmaker, arranged the funeral. It was most wonderfully done. Cocteau was too ill to come." ... " Cocteau was terribly upset and could not see anyone for weeks afterwards. I wrote to him in February and asked him if I could come and see him. He wrote me a charming letter:
25 fevrier 1924
CHERE NINA
Je suis toujours malade et sans courage.
Telephonez un matin".
De coeur,
JEAN COCTEAUEnglish Translation
25 February 1924
DEAR NINA
I am still sick and without courage.
Call me in the morning.
With heart,
JEAN COCTEAU
Film adaptations
In 1947, Claude Autant-Lara released his film Le diable au corps, based on Radiguet's novel, and starring Gérard Philipe. Among the other cinematic versions of Radiguet's story, the heavily adapted version by Marco Bellocchio, Il diavolo in corpo (1986).
In 1970, Le Bal du compte d'Orgel was adapted into a film, starring Jean-Claude Brialy as Le comte Anne d'Orgel. It was the last movie directed by Marc Allégret, who, like Radiguet, had once fallen under the spell of Cocteau.
