The eye of a poet: Antique figures in the work of Jean Cocteau

The thesis is concerned with the instances of the figures of mythology of the antiquity in the works of Jean Cocteau and their application. It focuses on the character of Narcissus, which is examined in connection to Oedipus and Orpheus, while concentrating mainly on the topic of mirroring and the related motives of the eye and sight. This mirroring is then not examined only on the level of an aesthetic object, but also in relation to the recipient and in mutual interferences between various media. The thesis is methodologically based on selected philosophical theses by Maurice Merlau-Ponty and the theoretical concepts of Pierre Brunel, Mieke Bal and Mary Ann Caws. Within the works of Jean Cocteau the thesis is primarily concerned with the analysis of the novels The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles), Le Livre Blanc and their illustrations, the poem "Tombeau de Narcisse", the play La Machine infernale and the films Blood of a Poet, Orpheus and The Testament of Orpheus