'Making an ass of himself - 'Bottom' by Arthur Rimbaud'

Gerald M Macklin

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This paper looks at Arthur Rimbaud's enigmatic little poem 'Bottom' from the prose poetry collection, the ILLUMINATIONS. It looks at some previous approaches to the poem and then proceeds to look at Rimbaud's self-presentation in the piece. Rimbaud's predilection for metamorphosis and changing identity as well as his tendency to portray aspects of his own failure in love and art come under examination. The sexual content of the text is also scrutinized and the conclusion is that in the poem Rimbaud sets out to make an ass of hiomself in every sense.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)4-6
    JournalFrench Studies Bulletin
    Volume114
    Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - Mar 2010

    Bibliographical note

    Reference text: Arthur Rimbaud ILLUMINATIONS ed Nick Osmond, London, Athlone Press, 1976

    Sergio Sacchi ETUDES SUR LES ILLUMINATIONS DE RIMBAUD, Paris, Presses de l'Université de Sorbonne, 2002

    Nathaniel Wing PRESENT APPEARANCES: ASPECTS OF POETIC STRUCTURE IN RIMBAUD'S ILLUMINATIONS, Romance Monographs 9, University of Mississippi Press, 1974

    Adrianna M Paliyenko MIS-READING THE POETIC IMPULSE: SUBJECT IN RIMBAUD AND CLAUDEL RESTAGED, Carbondale and Edwardsville, Southern Illinois University Press, 1997

    Robert G Cohn THE POETRY OF RIMBAUD, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1999

    Peter Broome 'From Vision to Catastrophe in Rimbaud's ILLUMINATIONS' Forum for Modern Language Studies, 15, 1979, pp. 161 - 179

    Baudelaire, OEUVRES COMPLETES I, texte établi, présenté et annoté par Claude Pichois, Paris, Gallimard, 1975

    Keywords

    • prose poem ass identity

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