Rimbaud's Critical Biography

Rimbaud

- Editor's Recommendation -
★Yves Bonnefoy, a world-class and influential contemporary French poet and author of "Another Language in Voices", wrote this moving work, a classic work written by a poet about a poet. It is not only a biography of Rimbaud with original insights and unique style, but also a phenomenology of Rimbaud's spirit.
Yves Bonnefoy: "I owe much of my success to Rimbaud. Few people have had such a fundamental influence on me as he did. He alone showed me what life is, what life expects of me, and how I should change it."
The starting point of Rimbaud's poetics is a kind of realism. His focus on the Paris Commune, his advocacy of "objective poetics," and his enthusiasm for transcending individual language to reach the universal all demonstrate his desire to transform social reality, to reshape interpersonal relationships through a "new love," and to rebuild the connection between words and the world.
Rimbaud's appeal lies in his agonizing awareness of the constant questioning of "what is a poet for?" his persistent exploration of the impossibility at the core of existential possibility, and his perseverance and vitality despite repeated failures. Bonnefoy, on the other hand, described poetry as a movement of hope. Like Sisyphus pushing a stone, the poet must endlessly hope and begin. They are both Sisyphus poets.
Rimbaud, a tragic hero who repeatedly fought and failed amidst contradictions. Only a sincere person, like Sisyphus, could persevere despite repeated defeats, bravely confronting the impossibility at the heart of poetry and building all possibilities upon it. We need Rimbaud because in his poetry, we can sense the true longing for love of a finite human being.
- Introduction -
This book is not only a perceptive and distinctive biography of Rimbaud but also a phenomenology of his spirit. Divided into eight chapters, it meticulously expounds on Rimbaud's career as a poet and lovingly depicts the trajectory of his spiritual activities. It is supplemented by three explanatory appendices, a concise and clear biographical narrative, a rich and detailed bibliography, and a fascinating post-translation note, along with numerous photographs, drawings, and manuscript illustrations.
As author Yves Bonnefoy suggests at the beginning, "To understand Rimbaud, let us read Rimbaud—to separate his voice from the cacophony of other voices. There is no need to go far or elsewhere to find what Rimbaud himself says to us. Few writers are as passionate about knowing and defining themselves as he is—wanting to change themselves and become another person through knowing themselves. Therefore, let us take this most serious of pursuits seriously. I suggest that we go and find a voice—to discern its will, to recreate its tone, especially these agitations, this inimitable purity, these victories, these shatterings."
Our reading of Rimbaud would be much less enjoyable without this book, which is so accurate and remarkable in its portrayal of his spirit.

2021-04-01

上海社会科学院出版社

Baideya

312

9787552033823