Customer Reviews

Delirium: An Interpretation of Arthur Rimbaud

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This book is certainly Reed's interpretation of Rimbaud. I found his interpretations to be a bit far reaching, and at times absurd. Reed often goes on into his own "poetic" rantings and all too often describes what he see's to be comparisons between his own life and that of Rimbaud. I had to force myself to finish this book. It was very disappointing. Any one interested in Rimbaud would do much better reading - Rimbaud- by Enid Starkie, or -Rimbaud- by Pierre Petitfils. Both are excellent.

Although this study of Rimbaud is, admittedly, a trifle self indulgent, it is, nevertheless, a poem in itself. Maybe not in the sense that the author had intended, but in terms of its unadulerated representation of the chaos that is the source of all poetry, it is a promethean breakthrough. I highly reccomend it.

"delirium" is nothing less than a work of creative genius, and i personally would be reluctant to criticize it for being 'self indulgent' when reading it is the linguistic equivalent of dropping acid or shooting up. it is that intense. after you finish it you immediately want another book by reed, or at least i certainly did. the source of poetry is free subjectivity and imagination, and there are parts in this book that are truly transcendent poetically. reed is interested in rimbaud when he was the 'god of adolescence', the period in his life of total rebellion and artistic frenzy. he does a near flawless job of showing that while verlaine and his somewhat cruel and hateful companion may have had a physical and shallow emotional bond, rimbaud was far above him on the spiritual and intellectual plane. this is a necessity for any admirer of rimbaud and surrealism.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. It's all artsy and rebellious, possibly like Rimbaud himself. But oh, it is pretentious! It's like Reed took a straight-up Rimbaud biography, a lot of half-baked hippie rants, some political and social arguements which would have probably left the real Rimbaud scratching his head, and stuffed it all in a blender. (Set on puree, dry to a paste, spread it on paper. Voila, this book.) This is more the author's screaming than anything relevant to Rimbaud. If you want an artistic representation of Rimbaud's life, watch "Total Eclipse". If you want a Rimbaud biography, pick any other; they're all better than "Delirium".