caliesha's review against another edition
3.0
Via Patti Smith's intro: "In his own private Gethsemane [Rimbaud] is at once saviour and betrayer, extending one hand as he's lying withdraws the other."
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
jcschildbach's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not a big poetry person, and read this because my kid bought it...probably because of the Patti Smith foreword. Perhaps unfortunately, it comes with a biography section that really makes Rimbaud sound like a dick (he did some deeply heinous crap). It's hard to read through the story of his life and then judge his poetry on its merits (but, again, I'm not a poetry person, so have a hard time judging it on its merits). Anyway, there were phrases and passages that jumped out at me due to their sheer power (in the English, I don't know French, which is included here). The work is good. The biography biased me against it. My difficulty with poetry makes me think I might have liked the work more if I was going over it in a class with someone who was passionate about the content. So...
jaqueline's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
bibilly's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
só deus sabe o que se passa na mente do palhaço. na minha, porém, a personagem da virgem tola nos primeiros Delírios é Paul Verlaine, e a do demônio, Rimbaud.
soinavoice's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars, because I actually really enjoyed The Drunken Boat--a lot of beautiful language, and really vivid, startling imagery, though I don't think Louise Varese's translation did it a lot of favours. Certainly worth a second read. But Season in Hell itself was... utterly incomprehensible to me. Barely one degree above gibberish. Part of the problem there may, again, have been the translation, although I tried to follow along in the French where possible and that also I found confounding. This wasn't a case of "I get what's going on here but it's not for me." I genuinely just... don't understand this poem. It felt a little like witnessing someone shout into the wind in an unfamiliar language--you get there's a lot of emotion involved, but apart from that it's in every way inaccessible to you. Idk. I hate feeling I've so completely missed a work which so many artists I admire have loved but I just... did not get this one at all.
airamseesghosts's review against another edition
3.0
i won't pretend i understood a lot of illuminations, but i really liked a season in hell.
nick_jenkins's review against another edition
I do not like this translation. It attempts a kind of vernacular English that sacrifices poetic intensity for a kind of naturalness of speech that I think is a very dubious benefit. Mathieu's attempt at colloquial fluidity ends up actually rather choppy and at the same time quite pedestrian. Some of the most lacerating lines in 'A Season in Hell' come off as bland grumbles.