Illuminations

It's hard to pick the exact point in time when I first encountered surrealism, but one of the earliest memories I have is when, as a child, my grandfather showed me pictures of Dali and his paintings in a book he'd brought back from a trip to Paris. He was a huge fan and loved to imitate the classic Dali look (the one with the crazy eyes, usually staring down at the camera). Who knows whether those early experiences helped draw me toward other surrealists, the Beat poets, and eventually music like Talking Heads, Tom Verlaine (who took his nom de plume from Rimbaud's lover Paul Verlaine), Patti Smith, Grateful Dead, and on and on and on and on, as I got older.During the last five decades or so of getting immersed into all this, I'd become aware of Arthur Rimbaud, but had never actually read any of his writings. Am not sure how I stumbled across this new edition of Illuminations either. As I read it the first time, it reminded me of the first time I heard one of Beck's non sequitur songs (wait, aren't -all- of Beck's songs non sequitur?....I digress) or the seemingly non sensical words and phrases being projected on panels behind Talking Heads during their "Stop Making Sense" tour. The imagery of each line, whether Rimbaud's, Talking Heads, Dylan, William S. Burroughs, many songs by The Beatles, or Beck, fires up the synapses for a few seconds, and then you're onto the next line.I chose to read Illuminations in its entirety in just a few settings rather than stop to focus or concentrate or try to understand or gather any meaning from what I'd just read from one "chapter" to the next. I will also most likely read it again many times, just to experience that fleeting sense of disorientation and bewilderment.I've mentioned just a short list of artists, writers, and musicians who were clearly influenced by Rimbaud and the Romantics/Symbolists and who came to my mind as I read this hallucinatory book. As you read it, you too will undoubtedly marvel at the unbelievable influence Rimbaud continues to have upon countless favorite writers, painters, and musicians of your own.

I ordered the 'hardback' edition -- it was not hardback, but rather a thicker cover and better print and type -- I wanted a good edition because Rimbaud's 'Illuminations' is a classic that I read as a French major.Ashbury does a fine job of translation and renders much of the strange allusiveness of Rimbaud. No problems with the translation.The graphic design was a little out of control -- repeated images of the same staring, probing, hostile face of Rimbaud in faint black and white against a yellow background -- I could have done without that. But then I put my head into the book and enter Ribaud's fantastic world, leaving the book design behind.Definitely I recommend the book if you are looking for a good 'Illuminations'

An elegantly printed book by Norton that contains a great translation of the famously original French poet by an American poet. Ashbery is clear and accurate and sometimes amazes by finding the poetically apt English for the French: "biscuit d'route" becomes "hardtack of the highway." Keats swooned when he first looked at Chapman's 17th century translation of Homer, so you might sit down before you open this volume by an original bad boy and his adept translator. The fireworks will start to explode shortly thereafter.

On a purely subjective note, of all I've read during my lifetime, Illuminations remains the most compelling work of literature I've encountered. My first contact with the work lead to what was probably intended: a slapp happy sense of disorientation imbued with a sustained and profound attraction to the fluidity of meaning and perception, to the images, to the now broken and drowned world overrun: impervious to inference, awash with unexpected associations and "new misfortunes". Rimbaud's work lead my reading on to Baudelaire, Lautréamont, Tzara, Breton, Eluard. Yet none of these authors has left as deep an impression, with such pervasive force or tangible presence. In its form, in its brevity, in its perpetual instability Illuminations accomplished mutually exclusive ends, including the end of Rimbaud's pursuit of writing. Concise and expansive, effortless and intricate, of language and of experience, it remains the best possible compass for getting lost, now made more acutely affecting by Ashbery's new and resonant translation.

This translation was recommended to me by a well-known American poet who was my professor in college. I adore Ashbury and feel his style complements Rimbaud’s original.The book jacket is very attractive and paper is good quality. The typesetting is a good font but almost seems too large in a strange way.

This book has facing French and English pages, so this reader (who knows some French) can clearly see how superb is John Ashbery's translation—no doubt a labor of love.

Of course this is a more literal translation than some, which I find most helpful. Of course, you will never find the true meaning of Rimbaud's work through a translation, but this text will help guide you through the tough readings of "Ville", "Barbare", and "Génie". Rimbaud's writing can be very difficult, so this text is a great aid for the French speaker who may not feel quite comfortable reading and interpreting profound poetry like that of Rimbaud.

I didn't know what to expect when I ordered this book, but found it quite fascinating and also interesting.

Infelizmente, o livro chegou muito amassado, basicamente, dobrado.

My favorite poet, always good to read this book, the book didn't were in perfect condition but who cares when you read this you forget everything else