Jean COCTEAU (1889-1963, poet, draughtsman, playwright and film-maker) / Manuscript written in his own hand in pencil on an oblong in-8 sheet (17 x 11 cm) :
"The Scott expedition to the Cinématographe
Boreal Trepidation
Oh this two-dimensional background
The unfortunates were no longer dead at all
No longer dead at all
They sank into the pale empty screen
And I was that dead man
who couldn't shout what was waiting for them at the end".
[The Scott expedition was part of the race to the Pole, in March 1912 - It ended with the death of Scott and his 4 explorers, who had indeed reached the Pole, but 5 weeks after Amundsen - A silent film was subsequently released, showing the Scott expedition moving through the snow in the grip of ice - It was this film that impressed the young Cocteau, the subject of this reflection].
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