Reviews

Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud, Louise Varèse

paula12's review against another edition

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challenging
I didnt understand a word this man wrote

pixie_d's review against another edition

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4.0

I wanted to read this after reading the Patti Smith book. Hubby had a 30-40 year old copy of Rimbaud's complete works, translated by a dedicated scholar, and I was able to compare those translations to the ones here by John Ashbery, a very famous and highly regarded poet. Even though sometimes it was only a word or a phrase that changed, the differences that Ashbery's poetic sensibility made to the translations made the difference between ho-hum reading and true poetry that sparkled and sang. Wow! I think he gives those of us who are not proficient in French a very good sense of what reading the original poetry must be like.

This edition puts the original language poems side by side with the translations, so you can see how the translator sometimes chooses certain words in English that are almost exact copies of the French words, not our everyday language, but more fanciful, elevating the mood to something other. And isn't that what poetry does, or can do, use language to illuminate states or ideas that are out of the ordinary?

uderecife's review against another edition

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2.0

Qualquer comentário meu a este livro pouco mais será que isso mesmo: um mero comentário. Nem opinião tenho, porque não tenho como ter boa opinião.

Rimbaud em português, não sendo nem português Rimbaud nem Rimbaud em português. Obviamente o que quero apontar é que esse algo que faz de Rimbaud Rimbaud, esse algo estando no francês, perdido no português, perdido fica também o Rimbaud.

Nem sequer posso dizer que been there, done that no que toca a ler este autor. Sei lá onde estive, sei que não estive na casa do autor. E o que fiz? Bem, fiz o que pude, li o que li, mas sei que o autor não li porque mais não pude. Sigam, portanto, os amantes de Rimbaud descansados, que as poucas estrelas da minha avaliação, avaliam não ele, mas minha superficial leitura — apenas e só.

eleitner's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

3.0

jackdouglas's review

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

domcarino's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

eviecook0708's review against another edition

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3.0

The language was beautiful, I just don't think I'm good enough at reading poetry to have understood it. Individual lines stood out to me, but I couldn't connect enough with the poems themselves to really enjoy the whole book.

cielllo's review against another edition

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5.0

i may be having a major unrequited crush rip

alexaperdomo's review against another edition

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4.0

La rebeldía y su irritación para con el mundo en el que vivía se siente en cada poema de este libro. Se le siente incómodo, incomprendido y angustiado al no encontrar razones suficientes para amar la vida y lo humano.

Leer a Arthur Rimbaud es siempre un buen ejercicio para profundizar en palabras que existen en su literatura no por el origen con el que fueron creadas, sino con el sentido que quiso darles para hacernos sentir lo mismo que él.

ioanabanana's review against another edition

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5.0

screaming, crying, throwing up, banging my head against the wall. j'aime tellement son écriture, depuis [b:Une saison en enfer|34639329|Une saison en enfer|Arthur Rimbaud|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490027563l/34639329._SY75_.jpg|42753720]. ça me fait ressentir des choses que je ne suis pas sûr d'aimer ughhhh