Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
30th out of 975 books
—
1,012 voters
Illuminations
John Ashbery's long-awaited, virtuosic translation of Arthur Rimbaud's Illuminations is presented with the French text in parallel and a preface by its new translator. Given Rimbaud's own cavalier attitude toward his most substantial work, few would have thought the "bunch of unpaginated and untitled pages" that Rimbaud handed his former lover Paul Verlaine (who had attemp
...morePaperback, 182 pages
Published
February 1st 1988
by New Directions Publishing Corporation
(first published 1875)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
John Ashbery translating Rimbaud seems such a logical, even natural pairing, that it is surprising it hasn't happened sooner. (Should we believe Ashbery when in the acknowledgments of his translation of Rimbaud's Illuminations, he thanks Norton editor Robert Weil for giving him the idea?) Ashbery has said that he was about 16 when he first encountered Rimbaud’s poetry, which happens to be about the same time that Ashbery was reading closely the poetry of W. H. Auden. In 1956, Auden would select...more
Rimbaud's poetry forms a heartbreaking crystallization of being a young tortured artist in late 19th century France. His poems are stunningly beautiful but it's maddening to think he wrote most of them before he turned 20. He's the quintessential enfant terrible, but he's so pretty, and his poems are amazing.
I like to read these out loud to my cats; sometimes in English but usually in the French. That's why I love dual language editions like these so much. It's a fantasy of mine to find a woman...more
I like to read these out loud to my cats; sometimes in English but usually in the French. That's why I love dual language editions like these so much. It's a fantasy of mine to find a woman...more
My first whole book in French & even more than I expected. With language like carved crystal, a text infused with rapture, despair, a kind of monkish dereliction.... We are drawn into its supreme egoism, an egoism which doesn't long to dominate the reader, but to simply celebrate (rightfully) its own supremacy of voice, & one I think not only fascinating in its description of other times & lands... but reaching its greatest fulfillment in a nostalgia for things which have never exist...more
1 like · like · see review
I have not in fact read all of this "long-awaited" translation by John Ashbery (the clumsy excerpts of the translation I saw in magazines did not exactly whet my appetite), but read it first in French in about 1952 and many times since. Rimbaud is without doubt one of the most fascinating literary figures who ever lived. His astounding capacity to manipulate language is in my opinion rivaled only by Shakespeare's, and Rimbaud is even more astonishing in that he didn't go through a period of appr...more
I feel a little about Ashbery translating Rimbaud the way I did about Pavement once closing a show with two Velvet Underground covers. With both, there’s a touching tip of the hat to one’s roots, but also a little bit of giving the game away. Not that either has to worry about the charge of being derivative (if anything, Ashbery’s Rimbaud sounds more like elegant, bittersweet, cast-off mot juste Ashbery than it does the Johnny Rotten of French lit), but the effects that made each stand out from...more
7 likes · like · see review
I can't stop reading books alongside Infinite Jest.
Today I checked out Ashbery's new translation of Illuminations from the library and read it in one sitting in my kitchen. I'm glad I did it. It's a beautiful book. I don't know much French, but I will fight anyone who says this is not a good translation.
Really, we should all be singing these poems to each other. We should've fought for the last copies in bookstores and read them all the first night they were published. If we care about poetry an...more
Today I checked out Ashbery's new translation of Illuminations from the library and read it in one sitting in my kitchen. I'm glad I did it. It's a beautiful book. I don't know much French, but I will fight anyone who says this is not a good translation.
Really, we should all be singing these poems to each other. We should've fought for the last copies in bookstores and read them all the first night they were published. If we care about poetry an...more
Stars seem difficult here (for translation? for R or A or both?), because I read another translation of *Illuminations* some time ago, and remember feeling like I was reading a translation. But Ashbery's Rimbaud is something quite different, more immediate, and perhaps one way of living out "I is someone else" ("Je est un autre.") To reference lines I'll use "R/A" (Resident Assistant? Recycled Author?).
In "Historic Evening" R/A bemoans the Romantic hangover: "...it's no longer possible to submit...more
In "Historic Evening" R/A bemoans the Romantic hangover: "...it's no longer possible to submit...more
I've wanted to read A Season in Hell for a while, but when I saw the rave reviews of Ashbery's translation of Les Illuminations I decided to start with this. I'm very happy with it. Having the French alongside is great, especially for the untranslatable cadence of pieces like "Mouvement" and "Marine," both incredibly colorful and hypnotic poems. I know little French, just enough to read very privately and savor the audible flow of the phrase.
The themes are prescient of the 20th century's dadaism...more
The themes are prescient of the 20th century's dadaism...more
Ashbery totally reinvented Rimbaud, as far as I'm concerned. This is a translation to measure translations by. Really, I read this three months ago and I'm still getting agitated and excited just thinking about it. I feel like the Rimbaud Ashbery gives us is as startling and vital as the 'original' Rimbaud, and is as close as anyone with French as bad as mine will ever get to 'knowing' the poet.
The scope of Rimbaud's influence is nothing short of profound. It is with intentional hyperbole that I say every important twentieth century poet cites this man as an influence. This is why I am deeply intimidated by him.
Rimbaud's poems are not easily accessible. He gives away very little, but he does give away something. Your first glance is like skimming the surface of a tidal pool. You are dazzled by the reflections and the play of light. When you lean a little further, when you put a little...more
Rimbaud's poems are not easily accessible. He gives away very little, but he does give away something. Your first glance is like skimming the surface of a tidal pool. You are dazzled by the reflections and the play of light. When you lean a little further, when you put a little...more
I think what's amazing here is that a magnificent American Poet John Ashbery at the age 83 (or something like that) translated the great poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, whose poems were written when he was in his teens. The ultimate teenage rebel icon touched by the grand poet of American letters, whose work is still controversial and has a bite. One wonders what took so long?
The truth is in this book, well, kind of. Rimbaud will always be this cloud that floats above us. It is there to be captured an...more
The truth is in this book, well, kind of. Rimbaud will always be this cloud that floats above us. It is there to be captured an...more
7 likes · like · see review
What do you make of an author that hands a work for publication to an ex-lover who shot him?
The imagery is vivid, idiosyncratic hermetic and strangely beautiful, and anticipates surealism.
Ashbery has, as far as I can tell, done an excellent job in translation. The original and translation appear on opposite sides. I don't speak French in any meaningful sense, but there is a an exquisite sound sense in his language that I can pick up in a vague sense in reading (and doubtless mispronouncing) pass...more
The imagery is vivid, idiosyncratic hermetic and strangely beautiful, and anticipates surealism.
Ashbery has, as far as I can tell, done an excellent job in translation. The original and translation appear on opposite sides. I don't speak French in any meaningful sense, but there is a an exquisite sound sense in his language that I can pick up in a vague sense in reading (and doubtless mispronouncing) pass...more
For translators, few books pose as formidable and seductive a challenge as Rimbaud’s unpaginated, fevered masterpiece, Illuminations. Here, seasoned translator and Pulitzer prize-winning poet John Ashbery answers that call and succeeds splendidly. Presenting each English translation alongside its French original, this dazzling edition breathes new life into the 19th century voyant’s kaleidoscopic world while still preserving its intense vision and incomparable immediacy. The results are incandes...more
Rimbaud writes with a writhing pen while Ashbery translates with a titillating tongue. Chromatiques become gossip columns. Reading along with the original French is a treat. These poems are the step off into modernity. Their wild oxymorons scintillate stirring up hideous joy! Abysmal delight! Nights of brilliant and clear-eyed delirium!
Fairies, flowers and flea markets take turns standing in as subjects while the poet posits preposterous notions. War, women and woe are seen through a theatrical...more
Fairies, flowers and flea markets take turns standing in as subjects while the poet posits preposterous notions. War, women and woe are seen through a theatrical...more
We have faith in the poison. We know how to give our whole life every day. – Morning of Drunkenness
Rimbaud has quickly become a favourite. I’ve re-read this book thrice over the last month, finding new things to delight me each time around.
I’m in love with his words. But I’m also fascinated by him. All of his works were written in his mid to late teens. He gave up writing altogether by the age of 21. One of the French enfant terrible, he caused quite the ruckus during his lifetime (which was, in...more
Rimbaud has quickly become a favourite. I’ve re-read this book thrice over the last month, finding new things to delight me each time around.
I’m in love with his words. But I’m also fascinated by him. All of his works were written in his mid to late teens. He gave up writing altogether by the age of 21. One of the French enfant terrible, he caused quite the ruckus during his lifetime (which was, in...more
When I was 18, I bought this book and have carried it with me ever since. Rimbaud was 15 when he started writing his symbolistic prose, no one had ever done that before. He wrote until he was 19. He was Verlaine's lover(the great romantic poet) who felt that Rimbaud's work was extraordinary and it was. At 19, rimbaud stopped writing. He went to Africa and explored parts no white man had ever ventured.He died at 37- This French schoolboy carnet's filled with words, influenced Henry Miller, the Be...more
The mark of an extraordinary writer to me has always had something to do with whether the writer's genre was enhanced by the writer. This is a tall order, I know, but the very best writers change the way that their genre is perceived. Rimbaud's prose poems challenged the traditonal style of the Romantics who wrote before him. He brought a sharp, new incandescence, a flaring literary reality, a breakthrough perception to poetry expressed by his point of view. His stirring soul is seared by his ep...more
I am having too much fun opening up boxes of books in storage and being reminded of ones I read years ago. I was introduced to this book while a student at Indiana University. Besides the beauty of Rimbaud’s prose poetry in the original French, there is an English translation on each opposing page. My copy is marked that I purchased it at the university bookstore, so I’m pretty sure it was a class assignment, but in browsing through it again, I’m happy I kept it.
I own four other translations of this text. I read French a little, but cannot speak it anymore. There are only subtle differences between this and the Enid Rhodes Peschel translation I grew up with, but I trust Ashbery more than most of my cats. Familiarizing myself with the choices Ashbery makes has not illuminated these poems in a new way for me, but Ashbery's take is rewarding and enjoyable nonetheless. I like Ashbery a lot and any translation he does is definitive in my opinion.
This just blew my mind, so impetuous and with such incredible visions. Rimbaud knew something we didn't. And at such a young age? How would anyone know to write such incredible things and to improve on the poetic fashionable/revolutionary fashion of symbolism? How did he have all this figured out? I'm just amazed at his prescience and aggression. I would have loved to have known such a shooting star!
Les F.
Les F.
White hot brilliance from the boy genius poet. Dazzling, hard-edged and alternatingly gorgeous and incomprehensible verse. It's still hard to believe a teenager produced the dizzying imagery and emotion in these poems.
"To roll with one's wounds, through the wearying air and the sea; with physical torment, through the silence of murderous water and air; with tortures that laugh, in their heinously stormy silence."
"To roll with one's wounds, through the wearying air and the sea; with physical torment, through the silence of murderous water and air; with tortures that laugh, in their heinously stormy silence."
Oh, Rimbaud. Dark and broody and just so...hormonal. Like what you wanted to write in high school but didn't even come close, or you did and are a world famous poet. One of my favorite poems when I was in highschool comes from this collection "Parade" with the ending line-
J'ai seul la clef de cette parade sauvage.
I alone have the key to this savage side show.
J'ai seul la clef de cette parade sauvage.
I alone have the key to this savage side show.
Este é, na minha opinião, o livro que melhor retracta a poesia de Rimbaud.
Escrita numa fase muito jovem, a única fase, diga-se, revela um ser desfazado do mundo, vivendo numa utopia que se compreende quando se sabe o fim que levou.
Inspiração para outros poetas, Rimbaud foi um génio e um dos poucos poetas que me dá prazer ler e reler.
Escrita numa fase muito jovem, a única fase, diga-se, revela um ser desfazado do mundo, vivendo numa utopia que se compreende quando se sabe o fim que levou.
Inspiração para outros poetas, Rimbaud foi um génio e um dos poucos poetas que me dá prazer ler e reler.
Coming from a Pynhead this might seem fresh, but I can't help but think a lot of this free associating, impetuous, hard-to-pin-down lyrical brain vomit is not, in fact, a work of genius, but instead something that's very muddled. I'll probably give this another shot in the future but for now this does nothing for me. I did like one or two of the poems, though...out of 43.
The only problem with rating translations is that there's also the original manuscript to consider. Although I was highly satisfied with Ashbery's translation, the collection didn't impress me as much as I thought it would. But then again I don't always respond well to canons.
A vigorous new translation of the French prodigy’s last poems as rendered by one of America’s finest contemporary poets.
For the complete list of 2012 Notable Books winners, please visit RUSA Awards 2012
For the complete list of 2012 Notable Books winners, please visit RUSA Awards 2012
Prozagedichten: visioenen, fantastische werelden, bizarre situaties, droomsfeer: voorlopig surrealistische experimenten. Sterk hermetisch
Diverse lezingen mogelijk, hier gekozen voor historisch (tijdskader), ontcijfering van de codering
Diverse lezingen mogelijk, hier gekozen voor historisch (tijdskader), ontcijfering van de codering
for when you're incredibly depressed and it's cold and grey outside and you have to get on the subway to go somewhere awful for something you don't want. this is what you must read for moments of clarity and refreshment. he understands.
Jun 26, 2011
Nick Black
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
stupidlyexpensive,
autographed
ahahah couldn't resist the numbered slipcover edition (http://www.amazon.com/Illuminations-S...). i have become all that i hate! w00t.
it did nothing for me; such guilt
it may have been because i read it late one night/in the early hours of the morning
although usually that is the optimal time to read poetry
reread soon
it may have been because i read it late one night/in the early hours of the morning
although usually that is the optimal time to read poetry
reread soon
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
French poet and adventurer, who stopped writing verse at the age of 21, and became after his early death an inextricable myth in French gay life. Rimbaud's poetry, partially written in free verse, is characterized by dramatic and imaginative vision. "I say that one must be a visionary - that one must make oneself a VISIONARY." His works are among the most original in the Symbolist movement. Rimbau...more
More about Arthur Rimbaud...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“True alchemy lies in this formula: ‘Your memory and your senses are but the nourishment of your creative impulse’.”
—
94 people liked it
“I shed more tears than God could ever have required.”
—
70 people liked it
More quotes…
Jan 16, 2012 10:53am
Jan 26, 2012 10:49am
J'embrace l'aube d'ete.... (IIRC) Do you know the Honegger piece? Recorded fairly recently by [my nominee for] world's bes...more
Jan 28, 2012 10:00am