Illuminations (Picas Series 2) [Paperback]

Arthur Rimbaud (Author)

Book Description

Series: Picas Series 2 | Publication Date: January 1, 1990

Poetry. Bilingual Edition. Translated from the French by Daniel Sloate. This edition of Rimbaud's masterpiece marks the first translation of ILLUMINATIONS that has been praised for its exquisite interpretation, particularly by American translators. Translator and poet Daniel Sloate is Professor of Linguistics at the Universite de Montreal.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)
Original Language: French

About the Author

Arthur Rimbaud (Jean-Nicolas-Arthur Rimbaud) was born in Charleville, France, on 20 October, 1854, the second of four children. His strict, devoutly Catholic mother came from a local farming family. His father, an army captain, permanently abandoned the family six years later. A precocious student at the local college, Rimbaud was writing verses in French and Latin by the age of fifteen. Two years later he sent some poems to the renowned poet Paul Verlaine, who responded with train fare to Paris and an invitation: 'Come, dear great soul. We summon you, we await you.' Eventually, Verlaine abandoned his wife and child and fled with Rimbaud to Belgium, then London, marking the beginning of a tumultuous love affair. Their relationship would end in Brussels a year later, after Verlaine shot Rimbaud, wounding him in the wrist. The older poet went to prison; the younger returned to his family's farm in Roche to write poetry. Though begun before Une saison en enfer, the only work he saw through publication, Illuminations would not be published until 1886, with a brief preface by Verlaine. Rimbaud may have been unaware of its publication: by that time he had abandoned Europe and poetry to spend the rest of his short life working overseas, finally settling in the Horn of Africa as a trader. On 10 November, 1891, at the age of thirty-seven, he died of cancer in Marseille following the amputation of a leg due to a tumour on his knee. Rimbaud is now considered a patron saint of symbolists and surrealists, and his works - which include Le bateau ivre (1871), Une saison en enfer (1873), and Illuminations - are widely recognised as a major influence on artists from Pablo Picasso to Bob Dylan. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Guernica Editions; Bilingual edition (January 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0920717047
• ISBN-13: 978-0920717042
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,024,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is a clock which never strikes..., April 7, 2000

By 

boeanthropist "Philip Welsh" (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illuminations (New Directions Paperbook, No. 56) (English and French Edition) (Paperback)

Though her translations are flawed and somewhat dated, Louise Varese still has not been topped as a the bringer-into-English of lil' Arther R.'s thorny prose-poems. Her versions remain closer in spirit to the originals than any of the later translations, most of which (if you'll pardon my French) suck, from the bland lazy word-for-word of the Penguin Classics edition, to the innumerable "interpreters" (Paul Schmidt and his shameless ilk) who make of his poems what they will (sometimes to further lengths than JR Ullman did with "The Day On Fire") and then call their work "translations." Anyway, if you know Rimbaud I'm probably preaching to the converted, and if you don't, and don't read French, the two New Directions/Varese translations are probably the best place to start, along with Pierre Petitfils' user-friendly biography.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peerless, December 8, 1999

By 

"lexo-2" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illuminations (New Directions Paperbook, No. 56) (English and French Edition) (Paperback)

For me, modern poetry is Rimbaud. Sometimes I think modern writing in general is Rimbaud, but usually only after a few drinks. In any case, this is one of two books that are essential for anyone interested; Louise Varese (wife of composer Edgard) was one of the first and is still the best English translator that Rimbaud has ever had; her versions are as faithful as possible, but have a swing and an energy (even in these prose poems) that nobody else has reached. A mighty book.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Forefather to Modern Poetry and Thought, September 27, 2000

By 

Mr. Egregious - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illuminations (New Directions Paperbook, No. 56) (English and French Edition) (Paperback)

The works of Rimbaud have become as famous for the character of the writer as for the writings themselves. However, with any work of art, the true test will be the content of the work rather than the person behind the pen. That said, the prose poetry of this child-man artist was an attempt to break away from all types of oppression in all forms (as viewed by Rimbaud): tradition, social expectation, as well as literary convention. First and foremost, Rimbaud was a thinker and then a writer but, unlike many philosophical writers (verses aesthetic writers, i.e.--Proust), he rarely lapses into didacticism. As for the content of his writing, one must consider that Rimbaud prefaced many literary movements, including psychoanalysis in his attempt to let one's "true self" write by "deranging the senses"; his focus on synesthesia predated the Dada movement and allowed him to become a godfather to the Surrealists; his themes of impotence and suffering foreshadowed the existentialists; and his use of multiple narrators foresaw the upcoming modernists in 20th century America.