Les Enfants terribles

This article is about the novel. For the film based on the novel, see Les Enfants Terribles (film). For other uses, see Les Enfants Terribles (disambiguation).
The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles)
US edition
AuthorJean Cocteau
Original titleLes Enfants Terribles
TranslatorRosamond Lehmann
IllustratorJean Cocteau
Cover artistJean Cocteau
LanguageFrench
PublisherNew Directions
Publication date
1929
Publication placeFrance
Published in English
1930
Pages183
ISBN0-8112-0021-3
OCLC86041984

Les Enfants Terribles is a 1929 novel by Jean Cocteau, published by Editions Bernard Grasset. It concerns two siblings, Elisabeth and Paul, who isolate themselves from the world as they grow up, an isolation which is shattered by the stresses of their adolescence. It was first translated into English by Samuel Putnam in 1930 and published by Brewer & Warren. A later English translation by Rosamond Lehmann was published in the U.S. by New Directions (ISBN 0811200213) in 1955, and in Canada by Mclelland & Stewart in 1966, with the title translated as The Holy Terrors. The book is illustrated by the author's own drawings.

The novel was made into a film of the same name, a collaboration between Cocteau and director Jean-Pierre Melville, in 1950,[1] and inspired the opera of the same name by Philip Glass.[2][3] Miloš Petrović composed a chamber opera based on the novel.[4] The ballet La Boule de neige by the choreographer Fabrizio Monteverde [it], with music by Pierluigi Castellano, is also based on this novel.[5] The story was adapted by the writer Gilbert Adair for his 1988 novel The Holy Innocents,[6] which was the basis for Bernardo Bertolucci's 2003 film The Dreamers.

  1. ^ The Terrible Children at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
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  2. ^ "Philip Glass: Music: Les Enfants Terribles". Archived from the original on 2012-09-17. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  3. ^ Rosenblum, Joshua (1 August 2005). "Glass: Les Enfants Terribles". Opera News. 70 (2). Metropolitan Opera Guild: 58–59.
  4. ^ Janjatović, Petar (2024). Ex YU rock enciklopedija 1960–2023. Belgrade: self-released. p. 231.
  5. ^ Bentivoglio, Leonetta (8 December 1985). "Finiscono in dramma i giochi inquietanti di Elisabeth e Paul". la Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  6. ^ "Les Enfants Terribles (DVD)", shop.bfi.org.uk