- Paperback: 592 pages
- Publisher: WW Norton & Co; Reprint edition (30 Sep 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 039332267X
- ISBN-13: 978-0393322675
- Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 1.5 x 0.4 cm
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
489,939 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #18 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature > Poetry > Lesbian
- #24 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature > Poetry > Gay
- #64 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature > Criticism & Reference
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Product Description
Product Description
Unknown beyond the avant-garde at the time of his death, Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) has been one of the most destructive and liberating influences on twentieth-century culture. During his lifetime he was a bourgeois-baiting visionary, and the list of his known crimes is longer than the list of his published poems. But his posthumous career is even more astonishing: saint to symbolists and surrealists; poster child for anarchy and drug use; gay pioneer; a major influence on artists from Picasso to Bob Dylan.
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MOST ROMANTIC POETS practised surgery on their family trees, grafting on aristocrats and looping off nonentities. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
MOST ROMANTIC POETS practised surgery on their family trees, grafting on aristocrats and looping off nonentities. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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21 reviews
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Vivid Monstres Sacres
1 Dec 2000
Format:Hardcover
As Robb did in stellar biographies of Balzac and Victor Hugo, he paints a vivid picture of the immediate environment in which the genius in question grows, rebels, creates and explodes. Much has been written about Rimbaud and his short period of productivity as a brilliant poet and prose-poet, but too much until this biography repeated the same facts, the same received opinions and the same conclusions. Robb digs deeper to provide the fascinating and detailed world of Rimbaud's family, his provincial origins and his rage to create new forms. With that detail, Rimbaud comes spectacularly alive in context. And what a context! Most famously, poet Paul Verlaine stepped into Rimbaud's line of fire and literary history was made, with the young man/boy wreaking havoc in every direction. As Robb shows, Verlaine, Rimbaud's mentor, lover and punching bag, was merely one of those the wild child went after. Robb's prodigious knowledge of the poet, his time and his place in literary history makes this the definitive biography of Arthur Rimbaud. And although hard work, thoroughness and engaged insights are three of Robb's supreme qualities as a biographer, his glorious writing style, which provides every paragraph with exploding epiphanies that illuminate and delight in equal measure, remains a rare treasure among contemporary biographers.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Examining the Rimbaud myth.
19 Mar 2004
Format:Paperback
An enjoyable book-- well-written and apparently well-researched, if occasionally a little snarky in tone.
Robb has a rare talent (Mitford-esque, if I dare say so) for injecting his point of view in a way that is visible but not overly intrusive. I was glad to have him as a narrative presence throughout the book.
I haven't thought about Rimbaud in years. I read _A Season in Hell_ as a high school student, as you do, but wasn't converted. I never really made a serious effort to engage his poetry or his life. I was motivated to pick this book up after reading a review, and was not disappointed. If you would like to read beyond the tortured artist and into the life of a fascinating and important literary figure, then this is the book for you.
What interested me in reading the biography is how much Rimbaud myth I had unintentionally absorbed over the years. Robb tells the reader a lot about the Rimbaud myth, and I think that many readers are going to find that much of what they thought they knew was not true. He spends a lot of time on the and unwraps the layers for the reader. In that sense, the book also becomes a look at how narrative fictions develop about literary figures. In any case, the facts about Rimbaud are happily much more interesting than the fiction.
The book has inspired me to go back to A Season in Hell and maybe pick up the collected letters. Rimbaud becomes a great deal more interesting if you look at his entire career and not just the period before he turned 19.
Generally: A good read & worth the time.
Robb has a rare talent (Mitford-esque, if I dare say so) for injecting his point of view in a way that is visible but not overly intrusive. I was glad to have him as a narrative presence throughout the book.
I haven't thought about Rimbaud in years. I read _A Season in Hell_ as a high school student, as you do, but wasn't converted. I never really made a serious effort to engage his poetry or his life. I was motivated to pick this book up after reading a review, and was not disappointed. If you would like to read beyond the tortured artist and into the life of a fascinating and important literary figure, then this is the book for you.
What interested me in reading the biography is how much Rimbaud myth I had unintentionally absorbed over the years. Robb tells the reader a lot about the Rimbaud myth, and I think that many readers are going to find that much of what they thought they knew was not true. He spends a lot of time on the and unwraps the layers for the reader. In that sense, the book also becomes a look at how narrative fictions develop about literary figures. In any case, the facts about Rimbaud are happily much more interesting than the fiction.
The book has inspired me to go back to A Season in Hell and maybe pick up the collected letters. Rimbaud becomes a great deal more interesting if you look at his entire career and not just the period before he turned 19.
Generally: A good read & worth the time.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
The Best Bio of Rimbaud
9 Jun 2001
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This bio completely turned my head around. Everything that I thought I knew about Rimbaud, was wrong! Robb's scholarship is impeccable, and his writing is so interesting that - like a novel - I kept turning the pages to find out what happened next. This is a book for everyone who loves Rimbaud, French poetry, biography, and beautiful writing.
Thank you, Graham Robb, for giving us the true Rimbaud - the man himself. You opened my mind to his life, and my heart to his poetry.
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