Raymond Radiguet | |
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| Born | (1903-06-18)18 June 1903 Saint-Maur, France |
| Died | 12 December 1923(1923-12-12) (aged 20) Paris, France |
| Occupation(s) | Novelist, poet |
| Known for | Le Diable au corps Le bal du Comte d'Orgel |
| Partner | Jean Cocteau (1919–1923) |
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Raymond Radiguet (French:[ʁɛmɔ̃ʁadiɡɛ]; 18 June 1903 – 12 December 1923) was aFrench novelist and poet whose two novels were noted for their explicit themes, and unique style and tone.[1]
Radiguet was born inSaint-Maur, Val-de-Marne, close to Paris, the son of acaricaturist. In 1917, he moved to the city. Soon he would drop out of theLycée Charlemagne, where he studied, in order to pursue his interests in journalism and literature.[2]
In early 1923, Radiguet published his first and most famous novel,Le Diable au corps (The Devil in the Flesh). The story of a young married woman who has an affair with a 16-year-old boy while her husband is away fighting at the front provoked scandal in a country that had just been throughWorld War I.[3] Though Radiguet denied it, it was established later that the story was in large partautobiographical.[3]
His second novel,Le bal du Comte d'Orgel (The Ball of Count Orgel), also dealing withadultery, was only published posthumously in 1924, and also proved controversial.
In addition to his two novels, Radiguet's works include a few poetry volumes and a play.[2]
He associated himself with theModernist set, befriendingPablo Picasso,Max Jacob,Jean Hugo,Juan Gris and especiallyJean Cocteau, who became his mentor.[4] Radiguet also had several well-documented relationships with women. An anecdote told byErnest Hemingway has an enraged Cocteau charging Radiguet (known in the Parisian literary circles as"Monsieur Bébé" – Mister Baby) with decadence for his tryst with a female model:"Bébé est vicieuse. Il aime les femmes." ("Baby is depraved. He likes women." [Note the use of the feminine adjective.]) Radiguet, Hemingway implies, employed hissexuality to advance his career: being a writer "who knew how to make his career not only with his pen but with his pencil."[5][6]
In 1945,Steadman andBlake 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 thatLe Diable au corps is "unretouched and seems shocking, but nothing so resemblescynicism as clairvoyance. No adolescent before Radiguet has delivered to us the secret of that age: we have all falsified it."[7]
On 12 December 1923, Radiguet died at age 20 in Paris oftyphoid fever, which he contracted after a trip he took with Cocteau. Cocteau, in an interview withThe 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."[8] In reaction to this deathFrancis Poulenc wrote, "For two days I was unable to do anything, I was so stunned".[9]
In her 1932 memoir,Laughing Torso, British artistNina Hamnett describes Radiguet's funeral: "The church was crowded with people. In the pew in front of us was the negro band fromLe 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 février 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 one morning.
From the heart,
JEAN COCTEAU"
In 1947,Claude Autant-Lara released his filmLe diable au corps, based on Radiguet's novel, and starringGérard Philipe. Coming just afterWorld War II, the movie caused controversy in its turn. Among the other cinematic versions of Radiguet's story, the heavily adapted version byMarco Bellocchio,Il diavolo in corpo (1986), was notable as being among the first mainstream films to show unsimulated sex.[10]
In 1970,Le Bal du compte d'Orgel was adapted into a film, starringJean-Claude Brialy as Le comte Anne d'Orgel. It was the last movie directed byMarc Allégret, who, like Radiguet, had once fallen under the spell of Cocteau.
The artistDavid Cilnius has dedicated his lyric/poemWhip the poor will to the writer's premature death, quoting Radiguet's last words.[11]
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