PENGUIN Selected Poems and Letters

Poems are presented in both original French and English translation, but letters are presented only in English translation, not acompanied by original French texts.

I GOT WHAT I ASKED FOR. WAS MAINLY INTERESTED IN,,; A SEASON IN HELL;, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS ; DESCENT INTO HELL', CONCERNING REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES WITH THE BATTLE OF ADDICTIONS..HE GAINED FAME, IN A SHORT 5 YEARS, IN SPITE OF HIS DEMONS,,,,,AND DIED AT A YOUNG AGE,OF 37,,,HAVING LIVED A FULL LIFE,,,,THANKS

I have read every English translation of Rimbaud I could get my hands on. This volume goes the extra mile and includes all of Rimbaud's letters as a trader and businessman. Let me say it is not uplifting. The poor guy struggled and suffered like anyone ever did. It is interested to see how complete his reincarnation was. There is not a shred of his youthful 'enfant terrible' in his adult prose. As far as the poetry translations are concerned, I would rate this about average. Translations are a black art and when you try to hard to preserve the original poem you often end up with a stilted and uninspired English version which does no service to the work of the poet.

I can't speak French, but I can see that these translations are poor. The translator has written his own desperately English verse based on the idiomatic verse Rimbaud. Rimbaud's verse is _full_ of personality, 'Oh!'s and so on. All of this is lost in the translation.The book is half good, because it is half Rimbaud.Suppose I'll have to learn French.

英語とフランス語が並んでいるので、日本語翻訳本と併せて、参照につぐ参照という読み方をしてます。たぶん、こんな本は他にないと思います。ペンギンのロングセラーか、スタンダートといったところだと思います。ちなみにPodcastやYouTubeにある朗読をききながら読んで見てます。・・・・ところで、日本語の翻訳本は、たぶん相当にランボーの詩を的確に捉えているんだな、と改めて思うことでもありました。