The Impostor
London: Peter Owen Limited, 1957. Presumed First printing thus. [Originally published in the 1920s, this is one of the Peter Owen Classics]. Hardcover. Format is approximately 5 inches by 7.75 inches. 132 pages. DJ is in a plastic sleeve and has substantial wear, tears, soiling and chips. Some page discoloration. Jean Cocteau has for long been known as one of the most outstanding figures of contemporary literature. His films, his plays, his books, have won him international renown, but it is only recently that his stature as a modern novelist has been appreciated. In 1966, Children of the Game was first published in England, winning instant and wide acclaim. The Impostor is another one of his more important works. At the beginning of the war there was complete confusion: confusion which persisted until the end. For, like a fruit, the short war might have grown and dropped from the tree, whilst a war prolonged for exceptional reasons, firmly attached to the branch, went on growing, ever presenting new problems and new lessons to be learnt. The Impostor is set in France at the outset of the 1914-1918 war, evoking the atmosphere and environment of that period through the reactions and interactions of the characters. Thomas, at the age of 16, lives in a self-created world of fantasy. Adopting an impressive pose, he encounters the widowed Princesse de Bormes and her daughter Henriette. The girl falls in love with Thomas, nor is her mother indifferent to this imaginative young "impostor." The fate, love and grief of these and other vital characters, is played out alongside the vicissitudes of the war. Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. Jean Cocteau insisted on calling himself a poet, classifying the great variety of his works – poems, novels, plays, essays, drawings, films – as "poésie", "poésie de roman", "poésie de thêatre", "poésie critique", "poésie graphique" and "poésie cinématographique". He is best known for his novels Le Grand Écart (1923), Le Livre Blanc (1928), and Les Enfants Terribles (1929); the stage plays La Voix Humaine (1930), La Machine Infernale (1934), Les Parents Terribles (1938), La Machine à écrire (1941), and L'Aigle à deux têtes (1946); and the films The Blood of a Poet (1930), Les Parents Terribles (1948), Beauty and the Beast (1946), Orpheus (1949), and Testament of Orpheus (1960), which alongside Blood of a Poet and Orpheus constitute the so-called Orphic Trilogy. He was described as "one of [the] avant-garde's most successful and influential filmmakers" by AllMovie. The Impostor is Cocteau’s breakthrough novel on the horrors of World War I. Thomas the Impostor is set at the outbreak of the First World War and is based on Jean Cocteau's experiences in the Red Cross on the Western Front. This is not, however, your typical World War One narrative but a fascinating example of war writing from a quintessentially artistic imagination. Guillaume Thomas is a boy too young to join the army but determined to get to the front at any cost. He is aided by the magnificent Princesse de Borme, who uses her energy, influence and allure to put together a chaotic ambulance convoy to help wounded soldiers. Together they travel all over France until Guillaume finally gets his wish and joins a company of soldiers. While the princess pursues charity work with the wounded, Henriette falls in love with Guillaume. However, Guillaume, resplendent in army uniform and issued with a shiny revolver, is lost like a child in a fantasy land of their own creation. At the novel's denouement, he clings to his imposture, but in mind, if not body, he has grasped the real meaning of war. This visionary novel is a "hymn to the cult of youth" in which World War I battlefields become an exaggerated spectacle where fiction and reality are inseparable. It may come a surprise to some that Jean Cocteau actually fought in the First World War but Thomas the Impostor is his idiosyncratic response to the author’s own experiences at the front. This is an excellent introduction to the writing of Jean Cocteau. Condition: Good / Fair.
Keywords: First World War, Western Front, Guillaume Thomas, Princess de Borme, Ambulance, Wounded, Soldiers, Charity Work, Love, Romance, Impostor, Battlefields
[Book #83048]
Price: $95.00