I finished reading Edmund White's short biography of Rimbaud (Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel, 2008) while on a break in Cape Cod and found it worthy if dry. Rimbaud is an intriguing biographical subject because he is so obscure and obscurist -- for three or four years, plenty of intimate details and drama, then years without any information at all. A sudden burst of brilliance and then absolute silence except for nagging letters back home to his cold and abrupt (fed up?) mother during his ten-year period in Abyssinia. He was niggardly and friendless. I think White loved his rebelliousness and outrage and yet it seems to have been directed for naught. In the end, I felt White was distant and cool toward Rimbaud, perhaps unsympathetic. But then how could anyone have been? Yet he is considered the founder of modern French poetry.
Thanks, Terry. Very helpful comment, though I must admit I think White is "distant and cool," to the point of chilliness, in nearly everything he writes! Nor has Rimbaud's poetry ever done much for me, though I know he has his champions. Still, he is an undeniably important figure, so perhaps one day I'll get around to reading EW's bio. Cheers, Steve
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