Rimbaud Complete (Modern Library Classics) by Arthur Rimbaud Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Rimbaud Complete (Modern Library Classics)
Book Review: Unsatisfactory translations
Summary: 4 Stars
First and foremost, this book is a godsend. I've been trying to piece through the Pliade edition of the Complete Poems for two years with little sucess, so having an English translation of Jugurtha & all of the other poems in prose and verse from 1866-1870 and through the rest of Rimbaud's life is nothing short of a miracle. That being said, the Fowlie translation is still the superior model for all other pieces, Louise Varese's rendering of the Illuminations being the only possible exception. Regardless of the rather lukewarm reviews that have been written of it in the past, Fowlie still shows the clearest attention to meaning and meter of all of Rimbaud's translators. While his "keeping in the spirit of Rimbaud" could certainly be called into question, at least in terms of his person, it is doubtful whether he will ever be surpassed.Book Review: Finally: A Great Translation of Rimbaud
Summary: 5 Stars
Some unnamed reviewer up above claims "There have been no fully satisfactory translations of the brilliant modernist forerunner Rimbaud." Whoever wrote that clearly didn't read Wyatt Mason's new translation of Rimbaud's complete works very carefully, because it's a lot more that satisfactory: it's beautiful. While the Wallace Fowlie translation (the blue one) is dependable, it's nothing more than that. It's good if you read French pretty well and need some help. But if you want to try to experience Rimbaud's poems in English as Poems, Mason's work is the only time I've found myself reading along and finding that he's caught both the meanings of words and the feeling of the poems (my mother is French, so I have read Rimbaud in the original). Mason's introduction is also, far and away, the best brief essay on Rimbaud's life and art imaginable, and it also talks really interestingly about translating poetry, and how he's gone about it. This is also the only edition available in English that contains everything Rimbaud wrote. The others, even if they say they're complete, don't come close. Neither do the other translators. I can't recommend this book enough.