Comments on: The Second Chances Of Jean Cocteau http://revolvingfloor.com/issues/2/the-second-chances-of-jean-cocteau/ Just another WordPress weblog Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:58:25 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: brianfbeatty http://revolvingfloor.com/issues/2/the-second-chances-of-jean-cocteau/comment-page-1/#comment-342 brianfbeatty Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:44:20 +0000 http://revolvingfloor.com/?p=877#comment-342 Does this mean you'll be writing a treatment? Does this mean you'll be writing a treatment?

]]> By: brianfbeatty http://revolvingfloor.com/issues/2/the-second-chances-of-jean-cocteau/comment-page-1/#comment-341 brianfbeatty Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:41:25 +0000 http://revolvingfloor.com/?p=877#comment-341 Well, as someone who reads the Wasteland as being about the aftermath of the War to end all Wars, I'm not sure how illuminating I can be. I do think, however, that Cocteau's unlikely belief in second chances pivots on The Inferno imagery. You must be well attuned to Dante, Rachel. <br><br>Cocteau's surreal dream would be haunted by the older Christian symbols, Eliot's poetry would try to update them and restrict Cocteau to a world more psychological, less imaginative, and a lot like the sensational early fiction of Hemingway. Beyond that, I'll let this short play (which was later expanded into a longer work) stand on it's own and spare you my intentions and shortfalls. <br><br>And I'll leave poor Cocteau on the windowsill, caught in-between. Well, as someone who reads the Wasteland as being about the aftermath of the War to end all Wars, I'm not sure how illuminating I can be. I do think, however, that Cocteau's unlikely belief in second chances pivots on The Inferno imagery. You must be well attuned to Dante, Rachel.

Cocteau's surreal dream would be haunted by the older Christian symbols, Eliot's poetry would try to update them and restrict Cocteau to a world more psychological, less imaginative, and a lot like the sensational early fiction of Hemingway. Beyond that, I'll let this short play (which was later expanded into a longer work) stand on it's own and spare you my intentions and shortfalls.

And I'll leave poor Cocteau on the windowsill, caught in-between.

]]> By: Michael Bennett Cohn http://revolvingfloor.com/issues/2/the-second-chances-of-jean-cocteau/comment-page-1/#comment-335 Michael Bennett Cohn Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:48:21 +0000 http://revolvingfloor.com/?p=877#comment-335 Fascinating that Cocteau and Hemingway were both ambulance drivers. That could be a movie in itself... Fascinating that Cocteau and Hemingway were both ambulance drivers. That could be a movie in itself…

]]> By: Rachel Hile http://revolvingfloor.com/issues/2/the-second-chances-of-jean-cocteau/comment-page-1/#comment-332 Rachel Hile Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:50:16 +0000 http://revolvingfloor.com/?p=877#comment-332 What a delight to read this, especially Cocteau's little speech about the wood with the centaurs, with the suicides hanging from the trees. He can't simply be alluding to Dante but must instead be alluding to Dante-Through-Eliot, but then I can't get any further in the interpretive woods. It's as though you've brought Eliot in to inflect the meaning of what Cocteau says---reminding us of his use of Dante in The Waste Land, reminding us of conversion and its importance to his poetry. That is, it seems that Eliot arrives uninvited in order to shed light on Cocteau, but I'm still a bit confused about what that light is, especially given the complication of not quite knowing whether to read The Waste Land as being about conversion (I do---I can't help it) or not. I'd be delighted to have more illumination from you (though I recognize that explanations would be very un-Surrealist), but at any rate, it's been a pleasure reading this and thinking about religion, communion, and hell. What a delight to read this, especially Cocteau's little speech about the wood with the centaurs, with the suicides hanging from the trees. He can't simply be alluding to Dante but must instead be alluding to Dante-Through-Eliot, but then I can't get any further in the interpretive woods. It's as though you've brought Eliot in to inflect the meaning of what Cocteau says—reminding us of his use of Dante in The Waste Land, reminding us of conversion and its importance to his poetry. That is, it seems that Eliot arrives uninvited in order to shed light on Cocteau, but I'm still a bit confused about what that light is, especially given the complication of not quite knowing whether to read The Waste Land as being about conversion (I do—I can't help it) or not. I'd be delighted to have more illumination from you (though I recognize that explanations would be very un-Surrealist), but at any rate, it's been a pleasure reading this and thinking about religion, communion, and hell.

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