Somebody Else: Arthur Rimbaud In Africa

Somebody Else: Arthur Rimbaud in Africa

Perhaps my favourite of all my Rimbaud books. I am particularly interested in Rimbaud's African years and this book is the definitive guide, though "guide" is perhaps the operative word, given how much still remains unknown and, indeed, unknowable.

Nicholl corrects many earlier errors and explodes some well-worn myths along the way, such as the one about Rimbaud being a failed businessman in Africa, when in fact he had amassed a small fortune.

If you are interested in this period of Rimbaud's life, this is a must-have book.

Disaster Was My God

by Bruce Duffy.

I found this to be the best of the novelized versions of Rimbaud's life. The book deals mainly with Rimbaud's African years and I found it highly successful. From the New York Times review: "It’s also fun to hang around with Rimbaud and Verlaine without being stabbed or shot."

I bought the hardback edition. Out now in paperback, also.

Highly recommended.

Rimbaud Brothers

Rimbaud Brothers is a lovely little chapbook by Jose Correa. It features artwork and text (in French) of Rimbaud's "spiritual brothers" such as Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Jim Morrison, Billy the Kid, Antonin Artuad and quite a few others. Mine is number 846 of 1000.

This edition appears to be part of a series, published by Alain Beaulet.

I bought my copy from the French eBay site.

Charleville

Charleville

Charleville, of course, is Rimbaud's home town. This is a book by Patti Smith, detailing her trips to Charleville, as a young woman in 1973, and then again in 2005 (parts of which can be seen in the Dream of Life documentary).

It's a beautiful book, filled with Patti's poems, drawings, notebook entries and photographs, all pertaining to Rimbaud in one way or another.

One of the most touching photographs is the one of Rimbaud's fork and spoon, which he had brought back from Africa, and had amongst his posessions at the time of his death in Marseille. See below.

This is a highly recommended book. It comes as part of a three book set called "Trois", the others being a book of photographs of statues, as photographed by Patti Smith, and a blank journal.

The publisher appears to be Foundation Cartier.

Rimbaud & Verlaine, Postcard

I picked up this postcard from ebay, recently. I have never seen one advertised before. Not sure if it's rare, but I like it a lot. The illustration is by Jacques Ferrandez.

The Prince and the Genie

by John MacCombie.

A classic example of how every group - the surrealists, Satanists, symbolists, nihilists, existentialists, etc. - eventually tries to "claim" Rimbaud. Paul Claudel was no exception. In this book, John MacCombie demonstrates that, rather than Rimbaud the voyant, the homosexual, the sordid, sadistic, inconoclastic enfant terrible, it was Rimbaud the mystic, the spiritual seeker, the subtle poetic technician who influenced the deeply religious Claudel and who was the younger poet's poetic model as well as spiritual mentor.

Illuminations

Translation by John Ashbery.

The long-awaited Ashbery translation. My copy is a "not for sale" proof copy which was, of course, sold to me on ebay. A paperback version of a book that so far exists only in hardcover, which makes this copy something of a rarity.

The translation is crisp, vibrant, lively and every other thing you'd expect from an Ashbery translation. Having said that, it's probably not quite as radical as I might have expected. But it's very, very good.

Here is Ashbery's version of my favourite Illumination, "H":

All the monstrosities violate the atrocious gestures of Hortense. Her solitude is the erotic mechanism; her lassitude, the energy of love. Under the surveillance of a childhood she has been, at various epochs, the passionate hygiene of the races. Her door is open to human misery. There, the morality of present day beings is disincorporated into her passion or her action -- O terrible shudder of novice lovers, on the bloody ground and under the illuminating hydrogen! find Hortense.

Magnificent!

There is a superb review, here: http://quarterlyconversation.com/illuminations-by-arthur-rimbaud

My Poor Arthur

by Elisabeth Hanson.

Early biography. I picked up my copy in a second-hand store in Sydney, about twenty years ago. It's a pretty battered copy. I could doubtless find a superior copy online, but to me it has always been about the contents of a book, not the physicality of it.

The title, of course, refers to a line written by Madame Rimbaud to describe her son, after his death. "My poor Arthur, who never asked for anything ..."

The Poetics of Indeterminacy

By Marjorie Perloff.

Perloff argues that the map of Modernist poetry needs to be redrawn to include a central tradition which cannot properly be situated within the Romantic-Symbolist tradition dominating the early twentieth century.

Essentially, Perloff points out the limits of a linear narrative.

A very good book

5 Poems After Rimbaud

by Sean Bonney.


Five poem broadside from Grasp Press, 2010. The poems are quite good, too.


According to the information on the back of the broadside the poems originally appeared at http://abandonedbuildings.blogspot.com/


Second printing of a mere 30 copies.

A Season In Hell, Illuminations, Poems, Last Lines

I won this miniature book on ebay, part of a series called The Miniature Classics Library. It measures a mere two inches by one and one half inches. This one was published in Madrid, Spain in 2003, though the price written in pencil inside the front cover reads "4 pounds". It's quite a pleasing little edition and, whilst I don't carry it around with me in my shirt pocket, one could easily do so.


The translation, though uncredited, is that of Paul Schmidt.


It is exactly these type of quirky items that makes trawling ebay, worthwhile.

Rimbaud In Abyssinia

by Alain Borer.

The first book that looked primarily at Rimbaud's African years. It was groundbreaking work at the time. Its basic thesis, however, that Rimbaud was a failed businessman during these African ventures was, essentially discredited by the later work done by Charles Nicholl in his very excellent Somebody Else: Rimbaud In Africa.

Nevertheless, this is an essential book if you are even remotely interested in Rimbaud's non-poet life.

En relisant Rimbaud

by Eric Simon.

I received this chapbook in the mail from my friend Eric Simon, who was one of the French buyers of my book about Rimbaud, "His Crucible of Pain". Text is in French, so I can't read it, alas. But it looks wonderful and who knows, one day I might type the text into an online translator to see what Eric has to say about our shared obsession, Rimbaud.

The package also included a flyer (below) promoting - if I'm reading it properly - the 140th anniversary of the Paris Commune, and the associated celebrations.

Thank you, Eric!

Portrait

Just a portrait I found online; but I really like this one.

Rimbaud: The Cost of Genius

by Neal Oxenhandler.

One of the more recent books to be published about Rimbaud. I found it a mixed bag - some more or less original insights, along with a lot of well-covered ground. Overly psychological in its approach, Oxenhandler draws a long bow on many occasions.

Illuminations

"Critical Guides to French Texts" by Roger Little. A nice little commentary on Les Illuminations, part of a series that also includes guides to Baudelaire, Montaigne, Rousseau and others.

I bought this book in the absurdly well-stocked Gould's Book Arcade in Newtown. I am still cleaning the grime off it.

A Season In Hell

A translation by Patricia Roseberry. This book has the curious subtitle, "The Psychological Autobiography of Arthur Rimbaud". Hmm. I bought the book online under the assumption that the book was some kind of psychological analysis of A Season In Hell. Disappointing to find that it was just one more translation of the text.

The introduction says that this translation is "strictly in conformity with the original edition". The translation, however, doesn't seem to be anything special.

A Season In Hell

This is a beautiful edition of Season In Hell that features photography by Robert Mapplethorpe. A lovely book. The translation is that of Paul Schmidt. Mapplethorpe is on the cover, with devils horns.

The Emergence of Social Space: Rimbaud & The Paris Commune

by Kristin Ross.

I must confess, I haven't read all of this one yet.

The Great Rimbaud Forgery

by Bruce Morrissette. Published in 1956. My copy is second-hand and is missing the dusk jacket (if one ever existed). Quite a fascinating volume, subtitled "The Affair of La Chasse spirituelle, With Unpublished Documents and an Anthology of Rimbaldian Pastiches".

For those who don't know the history, La Chasse Spirituelle is a legendary lost Rimbaud masterpiece. Paul Verlaine claimed to have read it and was once in posession of it. It seems his wife may have burned it when the affair between her husband and Rimbaud was uncovered.

This book tells the story of a forgery of that poem, published in May, 1949, in France.

Very interesting and amusing!