'Madness and Modernity in Rimbaud's Une Saison en enfer'

Gerald M Macklin

'Madness and Modernity in Rimbaud's Une Saison en enfer'

Gerald M Macklin

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Abstract

This paper sets out to examine in detail the structure and internal development of Une Saison en enfer, Arthur Rimbaud's diary composed in prose poetry. The paper argues that the collection articulates the experience of madness as an integral part of the author's sojourn in a psychological Hades. At the same time it sees a journey towards a personal definition and a sense of modernity as the means by which the victim ultimately exctracts himself from his hell. Drawing on some key work on Une Saison en enfer by important Rimbaldians, the article seeks to illuminate and explain the central artistic tension in the collection between assertiveness and hesitation, certainty and doubt. Placing Rimbaud in the context of other writers who have explored alternative visions of Hell, the paper examines Rimbaud's engagement with and rejection of traditional Western systems of belief and his fascination with oriental philosophies. The statement "il faut être absolument moderne" thus represents a culmination, a point of arrival, an emergence from hell.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	379-394
Journal	Neophilologus
Volume	95
Issue number	3
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2011

Keywords

hell modernity madness diary certainty doubt

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Macklin, G. M. (2011). 'Madness and Modernity in Rimbaud's Une Saison en enfer'. Neophilologus, 95(3), 379-394.

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note = "Reference text: S Bernard and A Guyaux (eds.) Rimbaud:Oeuvres, Paris, Garnier, 1981 Y Bonnefoy Rimbaud, {\'e}crivains de toujours, Paris, Seuil, 1961 R G Cohn The Poetry of Rimbaud, Columbia, South Carolina, University of South Carolina Press, 1999 M Davies Une Saison en enfer d'Arthur Rimbaud, analyse du texte, Paris, Archive des Lettres Modernes, 1975 C A Hackett Rimbaud, a critical introduction, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981 J Lawler Rimbaud's theatre of the self, Cambridge, Massachusetts/London England, Harvard University Press, 1992 G M Macklin 'Manifestations of the self in Rimbaud's Illuminations', Orbis Litterarum, 50, 142-163, 1995 G M Macklin 'Finding the formula: perspectives on the one-liner in Arhur Rimbaud's Illuminations', Forum for Modern Language Studies, XXXII, 4, 329-342, 1996 M Murat L'Art de Rimbaud, Paris, Jose Corti, 2002 N Oxenhandler, Rimbaud, the cost of genius, Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University Press, 2009 A M Paliyenko Mis-Reading the creative impulse: the poetic subject in Rimbaud and Caludel restaged, Carbondale and Edwardsville, Southern Illinois University Press, 1997 J-P Richard Po{\'e}sie et profondeur, Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1995",

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N2 - This paper sets out to examine in detail the structure and internal development of Une Saison en enfer, Arthur Rimbaud's diary composed in prose poetry. The paper argues that the collection articulates the experience of madness as an integral part of the author's sojourn in a psychological Hades. At the same time it sees a journey towards a personal definition and a sense of modernity as the means by which the victim ultimately exctracts himself from his hell. Drawing on some key work on Une Saison en enfer by important Rimbaldians, the article seeks to illuminate and explain the central artistic tension in the collection between assertiveness and hesitation, certainty and doubt. Placing Rimbaud in the context of other writers who have explored alternative visions of Hell, the paper examines Rimbaud's engagement with and rejection of traditional Western systems of belief and his fascination with oriental philosophies. The statement "il faut être absolument moderne" thus represents a culmination, a point of arrival, an emergence from hell.

AB - This paper sets out to examine in detail the structure and internal development of Une Saison en enfer, Arthur Rimbaud's diary composed in prose poetry. The paper argues that the collection articulates the experience of madness as an integral part of the author's sojourn in a psychological Hades. At the same time it sees a journey towards a personal definition and a sense of modernity as the means by which the victim ultimately exctracts himself from his hell. Drawing on some key work on Une Saison en enfer by important Rimbaldians, the article seeks to illuminate and explain the central artistic tension in the collection between assertiveness and hesitation, certainty and doubt. Placing Rimbaud in the context of other writers who have explored alternative visions of Hell, the paper examines Rimbaud's engagement with and rejection of traditional Western systems of belief and his fascination with oriental philosophies. The statement "il faut être absolument moderne" thus represents a culmination, a point of arrival, an emergence from hell.

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VL - 95

SP - 379

EP - 394

JO - Neophilologus

JF - Neophilologus

SN - 0028-2677

IS - 3

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