COCTEAU JEAN: (1889-1963)

COCTEAU JEAN: (1889-1963) French Poet, Playwright, Novelist, Artist, Filmmaker and Critic. A very private and tender letter with excellent content, A.L.S., with his star, as was his occasional custom, by Cocteau, one page, 4to, n.p., n.d., to Jean Marais, in French. Cocteau sends this warm letter to his lover Jean Marais, full of fear and emotion, during WWII time, stating in part `Mon Jeannot, Je t´écris dans un tonnerre ou d´orage ou de canon, je ne sais pas encore... Ecoute-moi , si cette lettre passe: un soldat prudent risque peu - un soldat imprudent risque tout. Je connais ton courage et ton insouciance et ta foi en ton étoile - mais pour moi, pour nous, jure moi d´être la prudence même et de ne jamais faire une imprudence inutile, quoiqu´il arrive. (Commede grimper à cette croix sur le clocher)´ (Translation: "My Jeannot, I am writing to you with thunder, either of storm either of cannon, I don't know yet... Listen to me, if this letter gets through: a prudent soldier risks little - an imprudent soldier risks everything. I know your courage and your carelessness and your faith in your star - but for me, for us, swear to me that you will be the prudence itself and never do unnecessary imprudences, whatever happens. (Like climbing that cross on the bell tower)") Further Cocteau explains to Marais what he means to him, saying `Pense que je ne vis que pour toi - que hors de toi rien n´existe - que j´ai voulu le vide autour de moi afin de ne penser qu´à toi et de ne pas te quitter une minute. (Ta maman est venue me voir ce matin et, je l´avoue, j´avais hâte qu´elle parte tant nous t´aimons d´une manière différente)´ (Translation: "Think that I only live for you - that outside of you nothing exists - that I wanted emptiness around me in order to think only of you and not leave you for a minute. (Your mom came to see me this morning and, I admit, I couldn't wait for her to leave because we love you in a different way)") Further again, and before concluding, Cocteau once more implores Marais to be extremely prudent and to avoid any risk in this difficult and dangereous dark war time, saying in part `Mon ange, le coeur est broyé de ce qui se passe et de ce qui s´annonce. Je te conjure de ne pas doubler cette angoisse... si le danger approche - je te supplie à genoux de chercher à l´eviter dans la mesure du possible. Je t´en supplie au nom de notre tendresse merveilleuse - mon ange. Prions´ (Translation: "My angel, the heart is crushed by what is happening and what is coming. I beg you not to double this anguish... if danger approaches - I beg you on my knees to try to avoid it as far as possible. I beg you in the name of our wonderful tenderness - my angel. Let's pray") Cocteau adds at the conclusion of his letter his star sketch. To a postcriptum added by Cocteau to the upper right corner, anxious because he is nor¡t receiving any new from Marias, he states `Les lettres doivent être retenues. Je n´ai pas de tes nouvelles. Je t´écris chaque soir et ma lettre part le matin´ (Translation: "Letters must be retained. I haven't heard from you. I write to you every evening and my letter leaves in the morning") VG Cocteau's longest-lasting relationship was with French actor Jean Marais, the "enfant terrible". Their names are in many ways inseparable. The love story of this mythical gay couple, burning and fruitful, gave birth to books, plays and striking films. Cocteau cast Marais in The Eternal Return (1943), Beauty and the Beast (1946), Ruy Blas (1947), and Orpheus (1949).