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A review by behindthecritic
Arthur Rimbaud: Complete Works by Arthur Rimbaud
5.0
So it turns out I've been quoting Arthur Rimbaud before I even knew who he was.
Rimbaud is another key writer in the origin story for lots of twentieth century writers and it's easy to see why. Like Baudelaire, Rimbaud is a key part of the transition from traditional to modernism.
I'm going to focus on A Season in Hell because - there's no competition - it's his greatest work and is basically the bible and everything after it is the extended edition. It reminded me of Inferno, it was Surreal before Surrealism was a thing, it was very self-conscious, and it placed the author in a position of what is biography and what is complete fiction. There's so much lit theory you could apply to this.
Reading A Season in Hell along with his older poetry (as this edition is a collected works) enriched my reading of the poem as I have seen with my own eyes Rimbaud's development from mimicking his contemporaries to becoming extraordinary. He also references some of his other poems which is a nice little nod.
This edition ends with his letters after he retired from poetry at the old age of 21. I always saw Rimbaud as a live fast, die young kinda guy - and yes he did die young - but he lived until he was 38 and to an extent lived a mundane life. Comparing his personal letters to A Season in Hell is as tricking contrast. It is hedonistic youth versus dull reality. It is strange and tragic.
Anyone who vaguely likes literature and poetry needs to read some Rimbaud- especially A Season in Hell.
Rimbaud is another key writer in the origin story for lots of twentieth century writers and it's easy to see why. Like Baudelaire, Rimbaud is a key part of the transition from traditional to modernism.
I'm going to focus on A Season in Hell because - there's no competition - it's his greatest work and is basically the bible and everything after it is the extended edition. It reminded me of Inferno, it was Surreal before Surrealism was a thing, it was very self-conscious, and it placed the author in a position of what is biography and what is complete fiction. There's so much lit theory you could apply to this.
Reading A Season in Hell along with his older poetry (as this edition is a collected works) enriched my reading of the poem as I have seen with my own eyes Rimbaud's development from mimicking his contemporaries to becoming extraordinary. He also references some of his other poems which is a nice little nod.
This edition ends with his letters after he retired from poetry at the old age of 21. I always saw Rimbaud as a live fast, die young kinda guy - and yes he did die young - but he lived until he was 38 and to an extent lived a mundane life. Comparing his personal letters to A Season in Hell is as tricking contrast. It is hedonistic youth versus dull reality. It is strange and tragic.
Anyone who vaguely likes literature and poetry needs to read some Rimbaud- especially A Season in Hell.