From Absinthe to Abyssinia: Selected Miscellaneous, Obscure and Previously Untranslated Works of Jean-Nicolas-Arthur Rimbaud [Paperback]

Arthur Rimbaud (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0887392938 | ISBN-13: 978-0887392931 | Publication Date: December 2002

Poetry. Translation. Translated from the French by Mark Spitzer. One of the many common beliefs about History's mostmythic poet is that he gave up writing after vanishing from France.After 130 years of misinformation, FROM ABSINTHE TO ABYSSINIA dispels this rumor and others by presenting works of Rimbaud's post-Paris prosethat have never before been seen in English. This collection, translated by Mark Spitzer, alsoincludes a section of poetry which includes highly innovative versionsof some of the poet's most well-known works, as well as many shockingand erotic poems that English-language readers have never had access toprior to the publication of these groundbreaking translations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Mark Spitzer makes us feel the poet afresh, through a gutsy freshness of his own. Essential reading. -- Jack Hirschman

Mark Spitzer's translations from French... [are] superb, evincing both a superior ear and a great deal of erudition. -- Andrei Codrescu

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

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Product Details

• Paperback: 167 pages
• Publisher: Creative Arts Book Company (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887392938
• ISBN-13: 978-0887392931
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,376,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have for the Rimbaud Enthusiast, October 14, 2003

By 

Brendan Hamilton (Williamsburg, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Absinthe to Abyssinia: Selected Miscellaneous, Obscure and Previously Untranslated Works of Jean-Nicolas-Arthur Rimbaud (Paperback)

(This review was originally written for www.violetcrown.net)

For this fairly random collection, translator Mark Spitzer picked rare items that either particularly interested him or had never been published in English before. It includes poems from Rimbaud's childhood, early drafts of more famous works, parodies of other poets, letters from his sojourn in Africa and even police reports of the incident in which his lover, Paul Verlaine, shot and wounded him.

A major fan of Rimbaud, I enjoyed this book thoroughly. It provided yet another blurry glimpse into the bizarre life and mind of a genius. The childhood poems display Rimbaud's mastery of language at an incredibly early age - he may have written one of these poems as early as ten. Other poems reflect his typically clever wordplay and fondness for parody and obscene humor.

In contrast, the letters from Africa suggest a sudden shift of interest from self-exploration, religion and abstract expression to science, history and trade. The reader sees Rimbaud's surprising transformation from poet to businessman in all its perplexing, paradoxical glory. To a lover of Rimbaud's poetry, or anyone who seeks to write creatively, it's an unsettling thing to behold. While Rimbaud's time in Africa certainly involved a great deal of adventure, it's hard to see it in these dry, unpoetic letters.

Spitzer's insightful endnotes proved indispensable throughout. Without them, the many obscure references and allusions in Rimbaud's poetry and letters would have lost me. In fact, without a previous knowledge of Rimbaud's works and biography, I would have found much of this collection excruciating. It's not meant as a sampling of Rimbaud's finest. He might well cringe if he were alive to see some of these childhood works and rough drafts in print. But for the Rimbaud enthusiast who has exhausted existing translations of the more famous works and yearns to read more, I wholeheartedly recommend ABSINTHE TO ABYSSINIA.