A Season in Hell & Other Poems (English and French Edition) [Paperback]

Arthur Rimbaud (Author), Norman Cameron (Translator), Michael Hamburger (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004

A Season in Hell' is one of the great works of modern literature. It is published here in a bilingual edition together with many of the verse poems which Rimbaud wrote between March 1870 and August 1872. A Season in Hell' was Rimbaud's literary testament, his apology and a contribution to the mythology of his time.

Norman Cameron (1905-53) was born in India and educated at Fettes College and Oriel College, Cambridge. He worked as a superintendent of Education in Nigeria, before becoming an advertising copywriter in London. During the 1930s he was a frequent contributor to Geoffrey Grigson's New Verse'.

He was awarded an MBE for his propaganda work during the war, and served with British forces in Austria until 1947, when he returned to London and advertising. In addition to his translations of Rimbaud, he published several collections of poetry including The Winter House' (1935) and Work in Hand' (1942). His Collected Poems' (edited by Warren Hope and Jonathan Barker) was published by Anvil in 1990.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Norman Cameron published two collections of translations from the work of the French poet Rimbaud during his lifetime. These have been brought together and they seem to me to provide a touchstone of what poetic translation is all about. Cameron never inserts his own personality between the reader and the text. Instead he puts all his skill as a poet at Rimbaud's service, with astonishing results. This is a bilingual edition so that on page after page one can see the alchemy of Rimbaud's words mirrored in English gold. If there has been a finer translation of any poet this century then I do not know it. Perhaps the secret lies in Cameron's own poetic practice: he wrote poems only when he felt compelled to do so by having that to say which could be said in no other way, and he seems to have recognised and captured a similar impress of necessity in Rimbaud. These versions were made for love and it shows' - Robert Nye, The Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

One of the most important modern European poets, Rimbaud was born in 1854 and wrote all his poetry before he had reached the age of 20. He then embarked on a somewhat peripatetic existence before cancer of the leg ended his life in 1891, aged just 37. Norman Cameron (1905-1953) was born in India and educated at Fettes College and Oriel College, Cambridge. His 'Collected Poems' was published by Anvil in 1990.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Anvil Press Poetry (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English, French
• ISBN-10: 0856462209
• ISBN-13: 978-0856462207
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,359,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)