I Promise to Be Good: Letters of Arthur Rimbaud: 2 (Modern Library) - Hardcover

Rimbaud, Arthur

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067964301X ISBN 13: 9780679643012

Publisher: Random House Inc, 2003

Synopsis

The first definitive collection of correspondence by the acclaimed author in English sheds new light on the enigmatic poet, as it reflects on topics ranging from the essence of art and his period as a visionary rebel, to his self-imposed exile in Africa and the Middle East. 20,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

Wyatt Mason s translation of Rimbaud s letters is a swashbuckler of a book, nothing less than a resurrection of a remarkable life. As such, it is a worthy companion to Mason s fine translation of the poems. No admirer of Rimbaud will want to be without it. Arthur Goldhammer, translator of more than eighty books from the French
These letters, together with the poems, provide as direct a record as possible of what the archetypal bohemian boy-genius did with his gift. They brim with curiosity, ambition, spite, self-pity, and a giant talent; his art is as impervious to time as that of Catullus or Heine. Thanks to Wyatt Mason s masterly translations, Rimbaud has, after a century and a half, recovered his gift. Askold Melnyczuk, author of "What Is Told" and "Ambassador of the Dead"

"From the Hardcover edition.""

"Wyatt Mason's translation of Rimbaud's letters is a swashbuckler of a book, nothing less than a resurrection of a remarkable life. As such, it is a worthy companion to Mason's fine translation of the poems. No admirer of Rimbaud will want to be without it." --Arthur Goldhammer, translator of more than eighty books from the French

"These letters, together with the poems, provide as direct a record as possible of what the archetypal bohemian boy-genius did with his gift. They brim with curiosity, ambition, spite, self-pity, and a giant talent; his art is as impervious to time as that of Catullus or Heine. Thanks to Wyatt Mason's masterly translations, Rimbaud has, after a century and a half, recovered his gift." --Askold Melnyczuk, author of What Is Told and Ambassador of the Dead

From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author:

The poetic genius of Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) blossomed early and burned briefly. Nearly all of his work was composed when he was in his teens. During the century following his death at thirty-seven, Rimbaud’s work and life have influenced generations of readers and writers. Radical in its day, Rimbaud’s writing took some of the first and most fundamental steps toward the liberation of poetry from the formal constraints of its history, and now represents one of the most powerful and enduring bodies of poetic expression in human history.

Wyatt Mason has translated the works of various contemporary French writers, and has been a finalist for the French-American Foundation Translation Prize. His translation of Arthur Rimbaud’s poetical and prose works, Rimbaud Complete, appeared in 2002 from the Modern Library. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, The Nation, and the Los Angeles Times. He was named a fellow of the New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers for 2003–2004. His current projects include a new translation of Dante’s La Vita Nuova, for the Modern Library. He is also at work on a translation of the essays of Michel de Montaigne.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 067964301X
• ISBN 13: 9780679643012
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416