RIMBAUD, Arthur; Norman CAMERON (translator). A Season in Hell [Une Saison En Enfer]. London: John Lehmann. 1949.
8vo. Original black cloth with gilt lettering to spine; Illustrated dust jacket; pp. 69, [1]; minimal bruising to top and bottom of spine; minor foxing to front end paper and pastedowns; otherwise near fine.
First English edition of a book which supposedly marks Rimbaud's lifelong departure from literature. This is the original text together with a new translation by Norman Cameron and featuring eight beautiful lithographs by Keith Vaughan.
"Once upon a time, if I remember rightly, my life was a banquet where all hearts opened and all wine overflowed…"
The semi autobiographical Une Saison en Enfer was written both before and after the great scandal of 1873 when Verlaine was sentanced to two years hard labour for shooting his lover, Rimbaud, in the wrist with a revolver. The two artists had started a tumultuous affair when Rimbaud was 17 and Verlaine married with children. This prose poem sequence was the last thing Rimbaud ever wrote as a poet and its legacy would have great influence on writers such as the Surrealists. Following the publication of Une Saison en Enfer Rimbaud disposed of all his manuscripts by burning them after the Parisian literary scene scorned his work, punishing him for his infamous association with Verlaine. When originally produced, it was the first and only work published by Rimbaud himself.Une Saison en Enfer is regarded as a defining exemplar of modern Symbolist writing.
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