O Tempo dos Assassinos (The Time of the Assassins)

About Henry Miller:

Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American writer and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of "novel" that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is distinctly always about and expressive of the real-life Henry Miller and yet is also fictional.^[1] His most characteristic works of this kind are Tropic of Cancer (1934), Black Spring (1936), and Tropic of Capricorn (1939). He also wrote travel memoirs and essays of literary criticism and analysis.

Biography

Miller was born to German parents, tailor Heinrich Miller and Louise Marie Neiting, in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, New York City.^[2] As a child, he lived for nine years at 662 Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn,^[3] known in that time (and referred to frequently in his works) as the Fourteenth Ward. As a young man, he was active with the Socialist Party (his "quondam idol" was the Black Socialist Hubert Harrison).^[4] He briefly—for only one semester—attended the City College of New York. Although he was an exceptional student,^{[citation needed]} he was willing neither to be anchored nor to submit to the traditional college system of education.
His first wife was Beatrice Sylvas Wickens, whom he married in 1917. During 1928/29, Miller spent several months in Paris with his second wife, June Edith Smith (June Miller). In 1930 he moved to Paris unaccompanied, and he continued to live there until the outbreak of World War II.^[5] Although Miller had little or no money the first year in Paris, things began to change with the meeting of Anaïs Nin who, with Hugh Guiler, would go on to pay his entire way through the 1930s including the rent for the beautiful and modern apartment at 18, villa Seurat. Anaïs Nin became his lover and financed the first printing of Tropic of Cancer in 1934 with money from Otto Rank.^[6]
In late 1931, Miller was employed by the Chicago Tribune (Paris edition) as a proofreader, thanks to his friend Alfred Perlès who worked there. Miller took this opportunity to submit some of his own articles under Perlès name, since only the editorial staff were permitted to publish in the paper in 1934. This period in Paris was highly creative for Miller, and during this time he also established a significant and influential network of authors circulating around the Villa Seurat.^[7] One author who became a lifelong friend was the young British author Lawrence Durrell. Miller's correspondence with Durrell was later published in two books.^[8][9] During the Paris period he was also influenced by the French Surrealists.
His works contain detailed accounts of sexual experiences. His first published book, Tropic of Cancer (1934), was banned in the United States on the grounds of obscenity.^[10] He continued to write novels that were banned; along with Tropic of Cancer, his Black Spring (1936) and Tropic of Capricorn (1939) were smuggled into his native country, building Miller an underground reputation.
In 1939 Durrell, who lived in Corfu, invited Miller out to Greece. Miller described the visit in The Colossus of Maroussi (1941), which he considered his best book.^[11] One of the first acknowledgments of Henry Miller as a major modern writer was by George Orwell in his 1940 essay "Inside the Whale", where he wrote:

“

Here in my opinion is the only imaginative prose-writer of the slightest value who has appeared among the English-speaking races for some years past. Even if that is objected to as an overstatement, it will probably be admitted that Miller is a writer out of the ordinary, worth more than a single glance; and after all, he is a completely negative, unconstructive, amoral writer, a mere Jonah, a passive acceptor of evil, a sort of Whitman among the corpses.[12]

”

In 1940, Miller returned to the United States, settling at Anderson Canyon in Big Sur, California. ^[13] He continued to produce vividly written works that challenged contemporary American cultural values and moral attitudes. He was widely critical of consumerism in America, as reflected in Sunday After The War (1944) and The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945). He spent the last years of his life at his home at 444 Ocampo Drive, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.
While Miller was establishing his base in Big Sur, the Tropics books, still banned in the USA, were being published in France by the Obelisk Press and later the Olympia Press. There they were acquiring a slow and steady notoriety among both Europeans and the various enclaves of American cultural exiles. As a result, the books were frequently smuggled into the States, where they would prove to be a major influence on the new Beat generation of American writers (most notably Jack Kerouac) some of whom would adopt stylistic and thematic principles found in Miller's oeuvre.
The publication of Miller's Tropic of Cancer in the United States in 1961 by Grove Press led to a series of obscenity trials that tested American laws on pornography. The U.S. Supreme Court, in Grove Press, Inc., v. Gerstein, citing Jacobellis v. Ohio (which was decided the same day in 1964), overruled the state court findings of obscenity and declared the book a work of literature; it was one of the notable events in what has come to be known as the sexual revolution. Elmer Gertz, the lawyer who successfully argued the initial case for the novel's publication in Illinois, became a lifelong friend of Miller's; a volume of their correspondence has been published.^[14]
In 1968, Miller signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.^[15]
In addition to his literary abilities, Miller produced numerous watercolor paintings and wrote books on this field. He was a close friend of the French painter Grégoire Michonze. He was also an amateur pianist.
After his move to 444 Ocampo Drive, Pacific Palisades, he held innumerable dinner parties for the artistic and literary figures of the time. His cook and caretaker was a young artist's model named Twinka Thiebaud who later wrote a 1981 book of his evening chats.^[16] Thiebaud's memories of Miller's table talk were published in a rewritten and retitled book in 2011.^[17]
During the last four years of his life, Miller held an ongoing correspondence of over 1500 letters with Brenda Venus, a young and vivacious Playboy playmate, actress and dancer. A book about their correspondence was published in 1986.^[18] An article detailing their affair ran in a special edition of Playboy in 1996.^[19] The article called her Miller's "twilight muse" during the bedridden final years of his life.
Before his death, Miller filmed with Warren Beatty for his film Reds. He spoke of his remembrances of John Reed and Louise Bryant as part of a series of "witnesses." The film was released eighteen months after Miller's death.
Miller died of circulatory complications in Pacific Palisades in 1980 at the age of 88. After his death, he was cremated and his ashes scattered off Big Sur.

Legacy

Miller is considered a "literary innovator" in whose works "actual and imagined experiences became indistinguishable from each other."^[20] His books did much to free the discussion of sexual subjects in American writing from both legal and social restrictions.
Miller's papers can be found in the following library special collections:

• Southern Illinois University Carbondale, which has correspondence and other archival collections.^[21]
• Syracuse University, which holds a portion of the correspondence between the Grove Press and Henry Miller.^[22]
• Charles E. Young Research Library of the University of California, Los Angeles Library.^[23]
• Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, which has materials about Miller from his first wife and their daughter.^[24]
• University of Victoria, which holds a significant collection of Miller's manuscripts and correspondence, including the corrected typescripts for Max and Quiet Days in Clichy, as well as Miller's lengthy correspondence with Alfred Perlès.^[25]
• University of Virginia.^[26]
• Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Library.^[27]

It is estimated that Miller painted 2000 watercolors during his life, and that 50 or more major collections of Miller’s paintings exist.^[28] The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin holds a selection of Miller's watercolors,^[29] as did the Henry Miller Museum of Art in Ōmachi City in Nagano, Japan, before closing in 2001.^[30] Miller's daughter Valentine placed some of her father's art for sale in 2005.^[31]
Miller's friend Emil White founded the nonprofit Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur in 1981.^[32] This houses a collection of his works and celebrates his literary, artistic and cultural legacy by providing a public gallery as well as performance and workshop spaces for artists, musicians, students, and writers.^[32]

Films

Miller as himself

Miller appeared as himself in several films,^[33] including:

• He was the subject of four documentary films by Robert Snyder; The Henry Miller Odyssey (90 minutes), Henry Miller: Reflections On Writing (47 minutes), and Henry Miller Reads and Muses (60 minutes). In addition, there is a film by Snyder that was completed after Snyder's death in 2004 about Miller's watercolor paintings, Henry Miller: To Paint Is To Love Again (60 mimutes). All four films are in Miller's own words.
• He was a "witness" (interviewee) in Warren Beatty's 1981 film Reds.^[34]
• He was featured in the 1996 documentary Henry Miller Is Not Dead that featured music by Laurie Anderson.^[35]

Actors portraying Miller

Several actors played Miller on film, such as:

• Rip Torn played Miller in the 1970 film adaptation of Tropic of Cancer.
• In the 1970 Jens Jørgen Thorsen adaptation of Quiet Days in Clichy, the Miller-based character of 'Joey' was played by Paul Valjean.
• Fred Ward played Miller in the 1990 film Henry & June, based on the diaries of Anaïs Nin.
• David Brandon played Miller in the 1990 film The Room of Words (La stanza delle parole), also based on the diaries of Anaïs Nin.
• Claude Chabrol's 1990 adaptation of Quiet Days in Clichy saw Andrew McCarthy play the Miller role.

Extracts Taken From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Miller

More Info: http://www.amazon.com/The-Time-Assassins-Study-Rimbaud/dp/0811201155

Miller in 1940

Iluminações - Uma Cerveja no Inferno (Illuminations - Une Saison en Enfer)

About Illuminations:

Illuminations is an uncompleted suite of prose poems by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, first published partially in La Vogue, a Paris literary review, in May–June 1886. The texts were reprinted in book form in October 1886 by Les publications de La Vogue under the title Les Illuminations proposed by the poet Paul Verlaine, Rimbaud's former lover. In his preface, Verlaine explained that the title was based on the English word illuminations, in the sense of coloured plates, and a sub-title that Rimbaud had already given the work. Verlaine dated its composition between 1873 and 1875.^[1]
Rimbaud wrote the majority of poems comprising Illuminations during his stay in the UK with Verlaine at his side. The texts follow Rimbaud's peregrinations in 1873 from Reading where he had hoped to find steady work, to Charleville and Stuttgart in 1875.^[2]

Content, style, and themes

The text of Illuminations is generally agreed to consist of forty-two poems.^[3] In large part due to the circumstances surrounding the publication of the poems of Illuminations, there is no consensus as to the order in which Rimbaud intended the poems to appear. Nevertheless, certain conventions stand among the many editions of the text. For example, the various publications of Illuminations almost invariably begin with "Après Le Deluge".^[4] Despite this ostensible controversy, a large number of scholars have declared the order of Illuminations to be irrelevant. Perhaps translator Bertrand Mathieu best distilled the major reasons for this contention: "No single poem really depends on the others or counts on them to achieve its own perfections. Each is intrinsic (we don't know the exact sequence and we don't need to know it)."^[5]
The collection consists overwhelmingly of prose poems, which make of up forty of the forty-two poems. The two exceptions are "Marine" and "Mouvement", which are vers libre.^[6] These two poems are remarkable not only as exceptions within Illuminations itself, but as two of the first free verse poems written in the French language.^[7] Within the genres of prose poetry and vers libre, the poems of Illuminations bear many stylistic distinctions. Though influenced by the earlier prose poems of Charles Baudelaire, the prose poems differ starkly from Baudelaire's in that they lack prosaic elements such as linear storytelling and transitions. Because of these differences, Rimbaud's prose poems are denser and more poetic than Baudelaire's.^[8] These differences also contribute to the surrealist quality of Illuminations. Though Rimbaud predated surrealism, he is said to have written in a surrealistic style due to the hallucinatory, dreamlike aspect of many of the poems.^[9] Another aspect of Rimbaud's style, which also contributes to the visionary quality of the poems, is his use of words for their evocative quality rather than their literal meaning.^[10] In addition to these stylistic qualities, Illuminations is rich with sensory imagery.^[11] A puzzling aspect of Rimbaud's style is his use of foreign words within the French text of Illuminations. For example, the poem "Being Beauteous" has an English title, even in the original French. Rimbaud biographer Graham Robb suggests that the presence of words from languages like English and German are due in part to Rimbaud's travels. Apparently, as he learned languages, Rimbaud kept lists of words he wished to use in poems.^[12]
Because the poems of Illuminations are so diverse and self-contained, they cover a wide range of themes. One theme evident throughout the text is protest. This theme permeates the first poem, "Après Le Deluge", and continues throughout many of the poems in the work. In Illuminations, Rimbaud seems to protest almost everything the society in which he lives has to offer.^[13] Another major theme in Illuminations is the city, most evident in the poem "Ville". This theme features prominently in at least six of the poems of Illuminations, and is mentioned in many others. In these poems, Rimbaud expresses a simultaneous attraction and horror towards the modern city.^[14] Other major themes include anguish, ecstasy, metamorphosis, nature, walking and travel,^[15] creation and destruction.^[13]

Writing Les Illuminations


No one knows exactly when Rimbaud’s Les Illuminations was written. It can be ascertained, from examination of the poems, that they were not all written at the same time.^[16] It is known that the poems were written in many different locations, such as Paris, London, and Belgium. Rimbaud was also involved in various relationships while he was composing these writings. He lived with Paul Verlaine and his small family in Paris from September 1871 to July 1872, with a short stint in Charleville in March, April, and May.^[17] The two travelled from Belgium to London in August 1872. It was this trip to London that provided Rimbaud with the backdrop of a British city for many of his poems. The two spent the following year together in London, with Rimbaud visiting Charleville twice. During these months with Verlaine, Rimbaud grew and matured.^[18] The majority of the poems included in Les Illuminations were written in 1873, the happiest year of Rimbaud’s and Verlaine’s friendship.^[16]
When his relationship with Verlaine ended, Rimbaud went to live with Germain Nouveau in London in 1874, revising old poems and writing new ones later included in Les Illuminations. Rimbaud’s relationship with Nouveau remains mysterious because of the lack of information about their life together. Although little is known about this year in his life, it is certain that in February 1875 Rimbaud had given the manuscript sub-titled Les Illuminations to Verlaine.^[17]

Publication and critical response

Two versions of Illuminations were published in 1886, each version arranging texts in orders different to the previous edition.^[19] Earning his living as a trader in the Horn of Africa at this time,^[20] Rimbaud was never personally involved in the publication of either edition.^[21] He did not leave Africa until 1891 when he was sick to the point of death.^[17]

Publication history

On Verlaine's release from prison in February 1875, Rimbaud entrusted him with the manuscript known today as Illuminations with the mission to mail it to Germain Nouveau in Brussels. Intent on an extended tour of Europe,^[22] Rimbaud had asked Nouveau to secure a Belgian publisher in his absence.^[23] Soon after sending the manuscript to Nouveau, however, Verlaine was seized with remorse: Why had he not searched for a publisher himself? At Verlaine's request, Nouveau returned the manuscript two years later at a meeting in London in 1877.^[24] With a view to publishing the complete works, Verlaine inserted into the original manuscript poems written in 1872 along with texts Rimbaud had given to Nouveau. Several months later, Verlaine loaned the manuscripts to the composer Charles de Sivry (the half-brother of Verlaine's estranged wife, Mathilde Mauté) with the aim of their being set to music. Learning that her half-brother was in possession of Rimbaud's texts, Mathilde expressly forbade de Sivry to return the manuscripts to Verlaine or to anyone else likely to publish them. It was not until nine years later, in 1886, after Mathilde had divorced Verlaine and remarried, that she rescinded her publication ban. Still seeking revenge over the destruction of her marriage by Rimbaud, Mathilde prohibited Verlaine from ever regaining possession of his former lover's manuscripts.^[25]
De Sivry confided Rimbaud's texts to Louis Cardonel with the proviso that Verlaine was not to be involved in their publication. Cardonel approached Gustave Kahn, editor of the literary magazine La Vogue, who agreed to publish the work along with a sonnet by Rimbaud in 1886.^[26] At Kahn's request, art critic and journalist Felix Fénéon arranged the order of the texts by respecting pages that linked the end of a text and the start of another. Inserted at random were verse poems and a few isolated pages. Despite these preparations, only 35 out of a total of 42 texts were published in La Vogue between May 13 and June 21 due to an obscure dispute between those associated with the project.^[27] Later in the year, Kahn commissioned Verlaine to write a preface to the still untitled suite of poems for their publication in book form by Les publications de La Vogue in October 1886.^[19] Verlaine gave them their collective name Illuminations or "coloured plates", a title that Rimbaud had earlier proposed as a sub-title.^[28] The publishers' dispute ultimately resulted in a dividing up of the manuscripts and their dispersal.^[26] Rimbaud died without the benefit of knowing that his manuscripts had not only been published but were lauded and studied, having finally gained the recognition he had strived for.^[29]
In 1895, an edition claiming to be the "complete works" of Rimbaud, with a new preface by Verlaine, was published by Vanier éditions. Since then, there have been many publications of Rimbaud’s Illuminations, both in the original French and in translation.

Critical opinion

Rimbaud was the subject of an entire chapter in Paul Verlaine’s Les Poètes Maudits, showing the older poet's devotion to and belief in his young lover. He also wrote an introduction to the Illuminations in the 1891 publication, arguing that despite the years past in which no one heard from Rimbaud his works were still relevant and valuable.^[29]
Albert Camus, famed philosopher and author, hailed Rimbaud as "the poet of revolt, and the greatest".^[30]

Translations

Translation history

Arthur Rimbaud's Illuminations, initially written and published in the late 19th century, has been translated numerous times since its original composition. Translators (and often poets in their own right) have undertaken this task repeatedly throughout the last century, producing many distinct, original, and innovative versions of the French collection of prose poetry. Some of the most popular translations include those by Louise Varèse (1946/revised 1957), Paul Schmidt (1976), Nick Osmond (1993),^[31] Dennis J Carlile (2001), Martin Sorrell (2001), Wyatt Mason (2002), and the collaborative team composed of Jeremy Harding & John Sturrock (2004).^[32] All of these translators have worked to introduce Illuminations to a new generation, each having their own angle in their presentation of the work. Variations in cross-language (French to English) translation, differences in the ordering of texts, discrepancies in the inclusion/exclusion of certain "proems," and incorporation of forwards/introductions written by the specific translators all account for the ability of these works to offer new meaning to Illuminations.

Analysis of translations

The translation of Illuminations from French to English proves a daunting task for the translator. They may either choose to remain as close to the original as possible, often creating ambiguity due to discontinuity; to indulge in their creative liberties as a translator and elaborate/explain in the translation; or to find a medium amongst these two methodologies. Various translators have interpreted their roles in the presentation of Illuminations to the public in a different light, thus producing multiple versions of the collection of prose poems.
In the Wyatt Mason translation (2002), much of the Introduction to his version of Illuminations focuses on the biographical details of Rimbaud's life.^[33] The intrigue surrounding the poet's scandalous character incites a desire in readers to better understand what inspired Rimbaud, what made him tick. Mason's methodology of focusing so extensively on Rimbaud's life leads readers to conclude his translation functions as a tool of conveying what emotions and feelings Rimbaud was experiencing at the time of his writing.
In the Nick Osmond translation (1993), a thorough read of the Introduction again provides background information and proves useful in examining his purpose for translating.^[31] Focusing extensively on the lengthy and uncertain publication process surrounding the original "proems," Osmond attempts to organize the works into distinct groups, establishing some definitive order. Because no one truly knows how Rimbaud intended them to be arranged in a collective work, this decision is left up to the translator. As Osmond suggests, different ordering gives rise to different meaning in the poems. Thus, ordering provides another mechanism through which translators have the ability to formulate the message they wish to convey in their particular piece of literature.
In the Jeremy Harding & John Sturrock translation (2004), the reader is the focus of the work.^[34] Parallel text has been adopted to make the reading more manageable for the literary audience, and although this is known to "cramp" a translator's style, Harding & Sturrock chose to do so for the sake of their readers.^[34] In addition, this translation takes much liberty in the sounds established through cross-language barriers. Instead of focusing on keeping the syllable count consistent with the French when translated to English, the translators chose to use words sounding more pleasant to the 'English ear'.^[34] Also interesting, this translation includes only half of the forty-two prose poems known to make up Illuminations, proving further liberties have been taken in its formation.^[32]
Standing the test of time and ensuring the work's longevity in the literary world, Rimbaud's Illuminations has been translated repeatedly and introduced to new generations of individuals. Each translator, like each poet, writes with a purpose. The various versions of Illuminations in publication will continue to draw on different aspects of the original and evoke different responses from readers.

Influence and legacy

Professor at the University of Exeter, Martin Sorrell argues that Rimbaud was and remains influential in not "only literary and artistic" circles but in political spheres as well, having inspired anti-rationalist revolutions in America, Italy, Russia, and Germany.^[35] Sorrell praises Rimbaud as a poet whose "reputation stands very high today", pointing out his influence on musician Bob Dylan and writers Octavio Paz and Christopher Hampton (cf. his 1967 play on Rimbaud and Verlaine, Total Eclipse, later made into the movie of the same name).^[35]
Symbolism: The Paris literary review La Vogue was the first to publish Illuminations.^[36] Knowing little about Rimbaud, the editor Gustave Kahn mistakenly introduced him as “the late Arthur Rimbaud", thereby facilitating his adoption by the Symbolists as a legendary poetic figure.^[11] Rimbaud's style and syntactical choices pointed to Symbolist tendencies, including the use of abstract plural nouns.^[37]
Dadaism: In its rejection of the sensible and logical, Dadaism embraced Rimbaud’s ability to write in abstractions and impossibilities. This supports Rimbaud’s role in revolutions as the Dadaist movement was a protest movement against capitalist ideals believed to be at the root of all war.^[38]
Surrealists: Rimbaud’s poetry was "Surrealist before the word was invented or became a movement".^[39] Although Surrealists often disowned all art before their time, Rimbaud is one of the few predecessors the group acknowledged. Like Dadaists, Surrealists do not accept rationality as they believe it to be the cause of unhappiness and injustice.^[40] Rimbaud’s passion to change life is echoed in the Surrealist's call to change reality through (only currently) impossibilities. A main difference, however, is that Rimbaud did not “abandon himself passively” to automatic writing like many Surrealist writers.^[41]
Rimbaud's life and works have inspired many musicians. Vocal works (operas and short songs), symphonies, trios, piano pieces, and rock songs exist, taking as their subjects Illuminations and Rimbaud's earlier work, A Season in Hell.
British composer Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) set a selection of Illuminations to music.^[42] Les Illuminations for tenor or soprano and strings, Op. 18 uses nine prose poems: "Fanfare", "Villes", "Phrase", "Antique", "Royauté", "Marine", "Interlude", "Being Beauteous", "Parade", and "Départ". The Decca Record Co. (London) released a historic recording featuring Britten conducting the work, with Britten's lifelong companion Peter Pears singing the tenor part (Britten had dedicated his setting of the song "Being Beauteous" to Pears).
American composer Harold Blumenfeld (b. 1923) devoted an entire decade immersing himself in Rimbaud,^[43] producing four compositions, namely: La Face Cendreé, Ange de Flamme et de la Glace, Illuminations, and Carnet de damné. Three of these works are based on prose poems from Illuminations. La Face Cendreé is a work for soprano, cello, and piano; it takes the prose poems "Aube" and "Being Beauteous" as subject. Ange de Flamme et de la Glace, a work for medium voice and chamber ensemble, is based on the prose poem "Barbare". Blumenfeld's two-part orchestral work, Illuminations, is based on five prose poems from Rimbaud's work: "Mystique", "Diluvial", "Après le déluge", "À Une Raison", and "Soir Historique".
Other composers inspired by Rimbaud are Bulgarian composer Henri Lazarof (b. 1932) and German composers Georg Katzer (b. 1935) and Andreas Staffel (b. 1965). Henri Lazarof's Fifth Symphony uses two French texts, one by Lazarof himself and the other by Rimbaud.^[44] Georg Katzer's Trio for Oboe, Cello, and Piano uses an essay by Rimbaud.^[45] Andreas Staffel's work Illumination is for piano, based on Rimbaud's Illuminations.^[46]
Hans Krása's 3 Lieder After Poems by Rimbaud,^[47] was composed in the confines of the Terezín ghetto (Theresienstadt) in Czechoslovakia. The Bohemian composer Hans Krása (1899–1944) was a pupil of celebrated composers Zemlinsky and Roussel. These "Rimbaud Songs" are set for baritone, clarinet, viola, and cello. On the last page of Krása's original manuscript was a rehearsal schedule in the concentration camp: four were held in the Magdburg Barracks and one in the Dresden Barracks.
Rock musicians Bob Dylan,^[48] Jim Morrison, and Patti Smith have expressed their appreciation for Rimbaud (the latter calling Dylan the reincarnation of the French poet).^[49] The essay "Rimbaud and Patti Smith: Style as Social Deviance" by Carrie Jaurès Noland features a critical analysis of Rimbaud's influence on Patti Smith's work.^[50] Bob Dylan's song "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" makes a direct reference to Rimbaud and his companion Paul Verlaine. Wallace Fowlie's book, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet, attempts to draw parallels between the lives and personalities of Rimbaud and Jim Morrison, demonstrating how the latter found Rimbaud a constant source of inspiration. Fowlie argues that some of Morrison's "lost writings" (a volume of poetry published posthumously, entitled Wilderness) bear strong resemblance to pieces from Illuminations.^[51]


Extracts Taken From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminations_(poems)

More Info: http://librivox.org/illuminations-by-arthur-rimbaud/ - http://www.amazon.com/Illuminations-Arthur-Rimbaud/dp/0393341828


About A Season in Hell:

Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell) is an extended poem written and published in 1873 (see 1873 in poetry) by French writer Arthur Rimbaud. It is the only work that was published by Rimbaud himself. The book had a considerable influence on later artists and poets, for example the Surrealists.

Background

According to some sources, Rimbaud's first stay in London in late 1872 and early '73 converted him from an imbiber of absinthe to a smoker of opium. According to biographer, Graham Robb, this began "as an attempt to explain why some of his [Rimbaud's] poems are so hard to understand, especially when sober".^[1] The poem was by Rimbaud himself dated April through August 1873, but these are dates of completion. He finished the work in a farmhouse in Roche, Ardennes.
There is a marked contrast between the hallucinogenic quality of Une Saison's second chapter, "Mauvais Sang" ("Bad Blood") and even the most hashish-influenced of the immediately preceding verses he wrote in Paris. Its third chapter, "Nuit de l'Enfer" (literally "Night of Hell"), then exhibits a refinement of sensibility. The two sections of chapter four apply this sensibility in professional and personal confession; and then, slowly but surely, at age 19, he begins to think clearly about his real future; the introductory chapter being a product of this later phase.

Format

The poem is loosely divided into nine parts, some of which are much shorter than others. They differ markedly in tone and narrative comprehensibility, with some, such as "Bad Blood," 'being much more obviously influenced by Rimbaud's drug use than others, some argue.

• Introduction (sometimes titled with its first line, "Once, if my memory serves me well...") (French: Jadis, si je me souviens bien...) - outlines the narrator's damnation and introduces the story as "pages from the diary of a Damned soul."

• Bad Blood ("Mauvais sang") - describes the narrator's Gaulish ancestry and its supposed effect on his morality and happiness.

• Night in hell ("Nuit en enfer") - highlights the moment of the narrator's death and entry into hell.

• Delirium 1: The Foolish Virgin - The Infernal Spouse ("Délires I: Vierge folle - L'Époux infernal") - the most linear in its narrative, this section consists of the story of a man, enslaved to his "infernal bridegroom" who deceived him and lured his love with false promises. He treats quite transparently his relation with Verlaine.

• Delirium 2: Alchemy of Words ("Délires II: Alchimie du verbe") - the narrator then steps in and explains his own false hopes and broken dreams. This section is broken up much more clearly than many other sections, and contains many sections in verse.

• The Impossible ("L'impossible") - this section is vague, but one critical response sees it as the description of an attempt on the part of the speaker to escape from hell.

• Lightning ("L'éclair") - one critic states that this very short section is also unclear, although its tone is resigned and fatalistic and it seems to indicate a surrender on the part of the narrator.

• Morning ("Matin") - this short section serves as a conclusion, where the narrator claims to have "finished my account of my hell," and "can no longer even talk."

• Farewell ("Adieu") - this section seems to allude to a change of seasons, from Autumn to Spring. The narrator seems to have been made more confident and stronger through his journey through hell, claiming he is "now able to possess the truth within one body and one soul."

Meaning and philosophy

For Wallace Fowlie writing in the introduction to his 1966 University of Chicago (pub) translation, "the ultimate lesson" of this "complex"(p4) and "troublesome"(p5) text states that "poetry is one way by which life may be changed and renewed. Poetry is one possible stage in a life process. Within the limits of man's fate, the poet's language is able to express his existence although it is not able to create it."(p5)
Academic critics have arrived at many varied and often entirely incompatible conclusions as to what meaning and philosophy may or may not be contained in the text, and will continue to do so.
Among them, Henry Miller was important in introducing Rimbaud to America in the sixties. He once attempted an English translation of the book and wrote an extended essay on Rimbaud and A Season in Hell titled The Time of the Assassins. It was published by James Laughlin's New Directions, the first American publisher of Rimbaud's Illuminations.
Wallace in 1966, p5 of above quoted work, "...(a season in Hell) testif(ies) to a modern revolt, and the kind of liberation which follows revolt".

References in popular culture

The 1970 film about Rimbaud (Terence Stamp) and Verlaine (Jean-Claude Brialy) usually known as Una Stagione all'inferno has the French title Une saison en enfer.^[2]
The book is referenced numerous times in the 1983 movie Eddie and the Cruisers and its sequel, and lends its name to the fictitious band's second album. The first movie gives a very brief account of Rimbaud's life as an artist (albeit without any mention of the affair with Paul Verlaine or other pertinent historical details).
The book was featured in one Law & Order episode where it plays a vital part in solving the murder crime.
The art world curator and fundraiser Bette Porter, a fictional character on The L Word, references a piece of artwork titled "A Season in Hell," supposedly one of the most important pieces of the last half-century, during a board meeting with her museum in Season 2 of the series.
The French poet-composer Léo Ferré set to music, sang and told the whole poem in the album Une saison en enfer (1991).
The book was referenced in the Felt song, "Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow" from their 1984 album, The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories, with the lyric "you're reading from A Season in Hell but you don't know what it's about".
Spanish band Fangoria titled their 1999 album "Una Temporada en el Infierno" (Spanish for Une Saison En Enfer).
In Pollock (film) (2000), Lee Krasner (played by Marcia Gay Harden) quotes Season In Hell when she first receives a visit from Pollock (played by Ed Harris) in her studio:

• To whom shall I hire myself out?
• What beast must I adore?
• What holy image is attacked?
• What hearts must I break?
• What lie must I maintain? In what blood tread?"

Peruvian Rock Band La Liga del Sueño used part of the "Bad Blood" section as lyrics in the eponymous song "Mala Sangre" featured in their album Mundo Cachina.
The experimental metal band The Ocean have a song named "Une Saison en Enfer" on the 2006 album Aeolian.
The extreme gothic metal band Theatres des Vampires have a song named "Une Saison en Enfer" on the 2001 album Bloody Lunatic Asylum. They also have one sentence from "Jadis, si je me souviens bien . . ." in the booklet of their first album Vampyrìsme, Nècrophilie, Nècrosadisme, Nècrophagie and in a song of their second album The Vampire Chronicles.
Moby's 2008 album Last Night includes the track "Hyenas" in which a female voice reads the first several lines of "A Season in Hell" in the original French.
In the game Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, an antagonist, named Alice, has attacks that are all named after famous literary works. (e.g. The Red and the Black is a historical French novel, A Season in Hell is a French poem etc.)
A Season in Hell is quoted in the novels The Ghosts of Watt O'Hugh^[3] by Steven S. Drachman and As Simple As Snow^[4] by Gregory Galloway. Watt O'Hugh is a 2011 novel that features J.P. Morgan as a principal character. In the novel, Morgan reads Une Saison on Enfer in his study, moments before being visited by the ghost of his first wife. The novel was named one of the best of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews.^[5]
The 1983 musical film Eddie and the Cruisers referenced Rimbaud's inner turmoil in a story about a musician that was trying to complete the perfect album and disappeared when the record company rejected it. Eddie Wilson, the lead character in the story, is introduced to Rimbaud by a young man who joins his band. In an argument among the band about a song that Eddie doesn't think sounds quite right and can't exactly explain why, the young man quotes the English translation of Rimbaud's long form poem, demonstrating an example of a Cesure,^[6] or meaningful silence, which puts into words the explanation that Eddie cannot. The album that is rejected by the record label, which Eddie was inspired to make after being impressed by Rimbaud's work, is called "A Season In Hell." After a fight with a record label executive, Eddie tears out of the studio angrily, ends up driving his car over a bridge guardrail and is presumed to be dead. This leads to rumors that he faked his death, effectively shunning his art as Rimbaud did.
In the comic series Spawn issues 117-120 are entitled "A Season in Hell."

Translations

During one of her lengthy hospitalizations in Switzerland, Zelda Fitzgerald translated Une Saison en Enfer. Earlier Zelda had learned French on her own, by buying a French dictionary and painstakingly reading Raymond Radiguet's Le Bal du Comte d'Orgel.


Extracts Taken From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Season_in_Hell

More Info: http://www.amazon.com/Season-Hell-New-Directions-Paperback/dp/0811201856 - http://www.assirio.pt/livros/ficha/-b-iluminacoes-b-uma-cerveja-no-inferno?id=11236880

Cover of the first edition October 1873