Stranger's Diary

Author: Jean Cocteau
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: Do you know who Jean Cocteau is? This man who changed the entire modernist movement remains largely unknown in China. He engaged in all artistic fields and left a profound impact. His works can be understood as a condensed version of 20th-century culture. Jean Cocteau was a prolific writer whose works spanned a vast range—from poetry, novels, and narrative plays to poetic dramas, travel sketches, aphorisms, memoirs, and notes, from ballet reviews to film critiques, and even from pottery to painting. Despite the diversity in form, we can always find his distinctive style in his metaphors. Critics accused him of imitating everyone, but Cocteau remained faithful to his own voice, his own convictions, and his own aesthetic throughout his life. The title The Diary of a Stranger aptly expresses the questions that haunted Cocteau. The phrase "I am not what you imagine," Cocteau repeated with all the nuances of his voice, and no one had ever tried so hard to break the mysterious aura that surrounded him in the public world. This persistent preoccupation constantly seeps from the pages of this book. He speaks to us about inspiration, memory, friendship, and many other topics, seemingly aiming to tear away the mask that covers his face and meet us honestly. With his talent, he eloquently conveys this elusive, fleeting truth, making his words shine brilliantly and revealing that Cocteau was not just a gifted writer but also a great artist.