Les Enfants Terribles

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 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, and inspired the opera of the same name by Philip Glass. The ballet La Boule de neige by the choreographer , with music by Pierluigi Castellano, is also based on this novel. The story was adapted by the writer Gilbert Adair for his 1988 novel The Holy Innocents, which was the basis for Bernardo Bertolucci's 2003 film The Dreamers. Summary The story concerns the siblings Paul and Elisabeth, who start the story without a father and with a bed-ridden mother, whom Elisabeth looks after. At school, Paul is obsessed with the stud-looking Dargelos, while Paul’s school friend Gerard is enthralled by the siblings. However, after Paul becomes ill when Dargelos throws a snowball with a stone inside at him, Elisabeth cares for both him and their mother. While Elisabeth nurses Paul, it is revealed that the siblings enjoy a relationship characterised by a psychodrama known in the book as "The Game", which can only be played in their shared bedroom, elevated by the Game-play into "The Room". The game devised by Paul and Elisabeth often involves the siblings trying to annoy or irritate each other, Elisabeth through histrionic behaviour and Paul through a taciturn refusal to be affected by her, where the winner is the one who leaves the contest with the last word, a sense of superiority, and, ideally, having caused a display of angry frustration from the other. This game continues after Paul recovers and their mother has died. Elisabeth soon takes up a job as a model, where she meets Agathe, a girl who was orphaned at a young age after her drug-addicted parents committed suicide. Agathe, characterised by her strong resemblance to Dargelos, soon moves in with Paul and Elisabeth.