The Miscreant

Now in paper, this is Jean Cocteau's first novel (1921). Jacques Forestier is a parasite who responds readily to both sexes. He comes to Paris to study but ends up indulging himself in a life of dissipation, culminating in a doomed love affair with a chorus girl. A sparkling evocation of the Parisian scene, the novel is also a study of loneliness and youthful disenchantment told with the great French writer's characteristic irony and wit. A Peter Owen Modern Classic.