Book description
A phenomenonally precicious schoolboy, Rimbaud was still a teenager
when he became notorious as Europe's most shocking and exhilarating
poet. During his brief 5-year reign as the enfant terrible of French
literature he produced an extraordinary body of poems that range from
the exquisite to the obsene, while simultaneously living a life of
dissolute excess with his lover and fellow poet, Verlaine. At the age of
21, he abandonned poetry and travelled across Europe before settling in
Africa as an arms trader. This edition sets the two sides of Rimbaud
side by side with a sparkling translation of his most exhilarating
poetry and a generous selection of the letters from the harsh and
colourful period of his life as a colonial trader.
Arthur Rimbaud (1854-91) is one of France's most controversial and
influential poets. His works include A Season in Hell and Illuminations.
Jeremy Harding is Senior Editor at the London Review of Books, a
translator, and journalist. He is currently working on a book about
being adopted.
John Sturrock is Consulting Editor for the London Review of Books, a
literary critic, travel writer, and translator. His translations for
Penguin include novels by Stendhal and Hugo, and one volume of the new
Proust translation: Sodom and Gomorrah.
