Radiguet, Raymond (1903-23). Radiguet is mostly known for his novel Le Diable au corps, a first-person narration which succeeds in combining an apparently classical style and technique with all the resources of modern ambiguity. After leaving school in 1918 Radiguet soon entered Parisian literary circles, becoming the inseparable companion of Cocteau. After some poetry and articles, he started work in 1921, aged 18, on Le Diable au corps, which appeared in 1923. In December of that year Radiguet died of typhoid. A further novel, Le Bal du comte d'Orgel, was published posthumously in 1924, under Cocteau's care.

— Richard Griffiths

The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Copyright © 1995, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.