The story of a young married woman who has an affair with a 16-year-old boy while her husband is away fighting at the front provoked scandal in a country that had just been through World War I.

[3] His second novel, Le bal du Comte d'Orgel (The Ball of Count Orgel), also dealing with adultery, was only published posthumously in 1924, and also proved controversial.

Aldous Huxley is quoted as declaring that Radiguet had attained the literary control that others required a long career to reach.

François Mauriac said that Le Diable au corps is "unretouched and seems shocking, but nothing so resembles cynicism as clairvoyance.

[9] In her 1932 memoir, Laughing Torso, British artist Nina Hamnett describes Radiguet's funeral: "The church was crowded with people.

He wrote me a charming letter: 25 février 1924CHERE NINAJe suis toujours malade et sans courage.Telephonez un matin.De coeur,JEAN COCTEAU English Translation

25 February 1924DEAR NINAI am still sick and without courage.Call me one morning.From the heart,JEAN COCTEAU"In 1947, Claude Autant-Lara released his film Le diable au corps, based on Radiguet's novel, and starring Gérard Philipe.

The artist David Cilnius has dedicated his lyric/poem Whip the poor will to the writer's premature death, quoting Radiguet's last words.