Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide
    The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide
    The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide
    Ebook32 pages13 minutes

    The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide

    By Bright Summaries

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Unlock the more straightforward side of The Infernal Machine with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

    This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau, which is a sometimes comical, often tragic play. The author revisits the Ancient myth of Oedipus, parodying some parts, including references to psychoanalysis and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and highlighting the inescapable quality of the bitter fate awaiting the protagonists. The play was successful and has enjoyed many performances since its writing, although it is not Cocteau's most famous work. 

    Find out everything you need to know about The Infernal Machine in a fraction of the time!

    This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
    • A complete plot summary
    • Character studies
    • Key themes and symbols
    • Questions for further reflection

    Why choose BrightSummaries.com?
    Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you in your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

    See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrightSummaries.com
    Release dateFeb 26, 2016
    ISBN9782806270481
    The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide

    Read more from Bright Summaries

    Related authors

    Related to The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau (Book Analysis)

    Related ebooks

    Study Aids & Test Prep For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Remembering Women

      Jun 22, 2021

      Remembering Women
      8 min read

    • Article

      Theater of War

      Jul 3, 2018

      Theater of War
      5 min read

    • Article

      Mother!'s Theater of Cruelty

      Sep 24, 2017

      Mother!'s Theater of Cruelty
      5 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Jan 29, 2023

      Great Read
      7 min read

    • Article

      Science Fiction And Fantasy

      Dec 3, 2020

      John Ironmonger Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2020 Hb, 276pp, £16.99, ISBN 9780297608233 Heloise was born in 1759, when Halley’s comet was in the sky; her father, a French nobleman and astronomer, named her after the god of the Sun. Her family are caught up

      4 min read

    • Article

      Anthony Doerr's New Novel Spans Centuries, Yet Fits Together Like Clockwork

      Sep 28, 2021

      Cloud Cuckoo Land follows four people in very different times and places, all connected by an imaginary manuscript — also called "Cloud Cuckoo Land" — by a real author, the philosopher Diogenes.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Pagan Crazy

      Sep 20, 2019

      Pagan Crazy
      3 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Written

      Oct 1, 2019

      American author, pilot and producer, Frank De Felitta, published his best-selling horror novel Audrey Rose in 1975. The book, which sold 2.5 million copies and was adapted into a successful film, tells the story of a man who loses his daughter in a

      3 min read

    • Article

      Storytime

      Feb 22, 2023

      The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell, Bloomsbury Swirling storytelling in the backstage machinations of the Mercury “tragic-play” Theatre Company. Jenny Wilcox’s theatre painter brother stole the family money and absconded with a “soubrette” (support

      2 min read

    • Article

      Storytime

      Feb 22, 2023

      The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell, Bloomsbury Swirling storytelling in the backstage machinations of the Mercury “tragic-play” Theatre Company. Jenny Wilcox’s theatre painter brother stole the family money and absconded with a “soubrette” (support

      2 min read

    • Article

      Plague On All Houses

      Aug 29, 2021

      Plague On All Houses
      2 min read

    • Article

      Screen

      Dec 8, 2023

      Screen
      6 min read

    • Article

      Review: Yes, 'The Inheritance' On Broadway Will Have You Sobbing. But The Play Aims For More

      Nov 19, 2019

      "Only connect!" E.M. Forster preached in his irreplaceable 1910 novel "Howards End." More than a century later, Matthew Lopez - an American playwright whose magnum opus, "The Inheritance," has arrived on Broadway after conquering London - has found i

      6 min read

    • Article

      Classical Corner

      Nov 30, 2023

      Classical Corner
      4 min read

    • Article

      Science Fiction And Fantasy

      Jan 5, 2022

      AJ Elwood Titan Books 2021 Pb, 365pp, £8.99, ISBN 9781789096859 We have three wonderfully fortean concepts to start with. We all know that fairies, even if they might sometimes be pretty, delicate little winged creatures, are rarely benign, and in AJ

      4 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Feb 22, 2023

      Great Read
      7 min read

    • Article

      A Heroine Lifts Up An Ancient Hero’s Tale

      Jun 24, 2019

      THE PORPOISE OPENS WITH ACTION. THE NEW NOVEL FROM Mark Haddon, whose 2003 hit The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was the basis for a Tony-winning play, begins with Maja, pregnant wife of the superwealthy Philippe, going down in a smal

      1 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Aug 11, 2022

      Walter Sickert was a painter of extraordinary artistic prescience and skill and took an interest in the Jack the Ripper killings as well as many other aspects of working-class London. The Ripper killings were a very pertinent working-class issue at t

      8 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Nov 5, 2020

      Sadly, the wonderfully prescient quotation from Samuel Pepys [FT397:70], “A dram in exchange for the pox is an ill bargain indeed,” is not by the great diarist, but from a spoof Twitter account. (https://londonist.com/london/books-and-poetry/samuel-p

      13 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Oct 2, 2023

      Books
      5 min read

    • Article

      Greek Tragedies Like Medea Are An Ethical Nightmare. That’s Why We Need Them | Charlotte Higgins

      Mar 11, 2023

      Last week, I found myself – at the end of a gloomy day – shot through with a burst of fierce, electric energy. It came from watching Sophie Okonedo’s 90 minutes of flat-out fury as she played Medea, opposite Ben Daniels’s Jason, in Dominic Cooke’s pr

      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      May 21, 2020

      Book Club
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Spectre Of The Past

      Jan 25, 2024

      The Spectre Of The Past
      6 min read

    • Article

      Fiction

      Sep 2, 2022

      Fiction
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau (Book Analysis)

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau (Book Analysis) - Bright Summaries

      French poet, novelist, filmmaker and playwright

      Born in Maison-Laffitte in 1889

      Died in Milly-la-Forêt in 1963

      Notable works:

      Thomas the Impostor (1923), novel

      The Holy Terrors (1929), novel

      The Infernal Machine (1934), play

      Jean Cocteau was a French writer who was born in 1889 and died in 1963. Originally from a well-to-do, art-loving family, the suicide of his father and his failure at the baccalaureate spurred him to write, which gave rise to his first poems. Later, his different meetings with the important figures of his time (Picasso (Spanish painter, 1881-1973), Raymond Radiguet (French writer, 1903-1923), Apollinaire (French writer, 1880-1918)) led him to use his talents in other artistic domains, such as the cinema, the theatre and the world of art.

      The polyvalence of his body of works and the controversies he provoked (he openly admits to being bisexual in Le Livre Blanc) ensured his fame.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1