Enduring icon of creativity, authenticity, and rebellion, and the
subject of numerous new biographies, Arthur Rimbaud is one of the most
repeatedly scrutinized literary figures of the last half-century. Yet
almost thirty years have elapsed without a major new translation of his
writings. Remedying this state of affairs is Rimbaud Complete*,* the
first and only truly complete edition of Rimbaud's work in English,
translated, edited, and introduced by Wyatt Mason.
Mason draws on a century of Rimbaud scholarship to choreograph a
superbly clear-eyed presentation of the poet's works. He arranges
Rimbaud's writing chronologically, based on the latest manuscript
evidence, so readers can experience the famously teenaged poet's rapid
evolution, from the lyricism of "Sensation" to the groundbreaking
early modernism of A Season in Hell.
In fifty pages of previously untranslated material, including
award-winning early verses, all the fragmentary poems, a fascinating
early draft of A Season in Hell, a school notebook, and multiple
manuscript versions of the important poem "O saisons, ô chateaux,"
Rimbaud Complete displays facets of the poet unknown to American
readers. And in his Introduction, Mason revisits the Rimbaud myth,
addresses the state of disarray in which the poet left his work, and
illuminates the intricacies of the translator's art.
Mason has harnessed the precision and power of the poet's rapidly
changing voice: from the delicate music of a poem such as "Crows" to
the mature dissonance of the Illuminations, Rimbaud Complete
unveils this essential poet for a new generation of readers.
