Finished Tu 9/20/11
This is a well-written and engaging biography of Arthur Rimbaud(1854-1891). It sticks very close to the details of his life, yet the scenes and dialog would have to be fictional.
The book begins with his mother attempting to bury his body, and finally wraps up with this same scene. I liked that the book did not recount a linear examination of his life, and jumped between his adventures in Ethiopia, to his Parisian encounter with Paul Verlaine, scenes of his childhood with his mother, and his flight from Africa. And, it did not dwell on the particularly lurid accounts of his debauchery with Paul Verlaine in Paris which I was kind of expecting in a book about Rimbaud.
Basically, Rimbaud was a man who wrote poetry for a few years as a teenager, was discovered by Parisian literary society, and completely changed the entire art form. I don't think that anything similar was written for another half century. The spirit of Arthur Rimbaud can clearly be seen in the Punk Rock genre of the late 1970's, and that was nearly a century after Rimbaud had ceased to write. When it seemed that he was at the zenith of his powers, he suddenly stopped writing. He no longer even considered himself an artist, and turned to the business field. Where he decided to engage in probably the lowest form of commerce-Gun Running. A very strange individual indeed! Tremendously talented, yet clearly slightly unhinged.
Bruce Duffy writes with a maximum of style and verve, and really moved the story along.
Notes:
Rimbaud's meddlesome and controlling mother
Rimbaud had a sister that died of tuberculosis
Paul Verlaine lived with his in-laws while in Paris
Verlaine married a sixteen year old, and she was pregnant at seventeen
Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rimbaud
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