Cocteau Quote About Dictionaries

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here are some interesting (I think) raw matches in Google Books

Contemporary French literature - Page 235
books.google.com/books?id=wHQ4AAAAIAAJ
René Lalou - 1924 - Snippet view - More editions
"The great literary masterpiece is never anything but a dictionary in
disorder." Some sallies of this sort render bearable the reading of
Potomak which he has himself judged without indulgence in the
Prospectus of 1916. Potomak was dedicated ...

The European caravan: an anthology of the new spirit in European ... -
Volume 1 - Page 78
books.google.com/books?id=5YhCAAAAIAAJ
Samuel Putnam - 1931 - Snippet view - More editions
... unpublished work, I haven't the slightest doubt that you would
have handed him the Larousse Dictionary, for, think over what I say,
Argemone, a literary masterpiece is never anything more than a
dictionary in disorder. "Where are my books?

The european caravan: an anthology of the new spirit in European ... -
Volume 1 - Page 78
books.google.com/books?id=FL8LAQAAMAAJ
Samuel Putnam, James Joyce, Richard Aldington - 1931 - Snippet view -
More editions
... unpublished work, I haven't the slightest doubt that you would
have handed him the Larousse Dictionary, for, think over what I say,
Argemone, a literary masterpiece is never anything more than a
dictionary in disorder. "Where are my books?

New York Times Saturday Review of Books and Art - Volume 1 - Page 23
books.google.com/books?id=BsIfAQAAMAAJ
1936 - Snippet view - More editions
Cocteau's definition of a literary masterpiece ( "a dictionary in
disorder") he flays beautifully, as beautifully as he pulverizes Paul
Morand'a geographical pirouettes. The Dada- Ists and the Surrealists,
of course, are meat for him. His treatment of ...

On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 4:41 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Cocteau Quote About Dictionaries
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jonathon Green has asked me about a source for the following quotation, sai=
> d to be by Jean Cocteau with the context being a reference to Victor Hugo:
>
> "The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.'=
> ' (orig. 'Un chef-d'oeuvre de la litt=E9rature n'est jamais qu'un dictionna=
> ire en d=E9sordre').
>
> I'm not familiar with this line, although I like it a lot.  Can anyone help=
>  with tracking down the source?
>
> Fred Shapiro
> Editor
> YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS (Yale University Press)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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