Disaster Was My God

A Novel of the Outlaw Life of Arthur Rimbaud

Fiction & Literature, Literary, Historical
Cover of the book Disaster Was My God by Bruce Duffy, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Bruce Duffy ISBN: 9780385534376
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Publication: July 19, 2011
Imprint: Anchor Language: English
Author: Bruce Duffy
ISBN: 9780385534376
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication: July 19, 2011
Imprint: Anchor
Language: English

The author of the critically acclaimed novel The World as I Found It brilliantly reimagines the scandalous life of the pioneering, proto-punk poet Arthur Rimbaud.

Arthur Rimbaud, the enfant terrible of French letters, more than holds his own with Lord Byron and Oscar Wilde in terms of bold writing and salacious interest. In the space of one year—1871—with a handful of startling poems he transformed himself from a teenaged bumpkin into the literary sensation of Paris. He was taken up, then taken in, by the older and married poet Paul Verlaine in a passionate affair. When Rimbaud sought to end it, Verlaine, in a jeal­ous rage, shot him. Shortly thereafter, Rimbaud—just shy of his twentieth birthday—declared himself finished with literature. His resignation notice was his immortal prose poem A Season in Hell. In time, Rimbaud wound up a pros­perous trader and arms dealer in Ethiopia. But a cancerous leg forced him to return to France, to the family farm, with his sister and loving but overbearing mother. He died at thirty-seven.

Bruce Duffy takes the bare facts of Rimbaud’s fascinating existence and brings them vividly to life in a story rich with people, places, and paradox. In this unprecedented work of fictional biography, Duffy conveys, as few ever have, the inner turmoil of this calculating genius of outrage, whose work and untidy life essentially anticipated and created the twentieth century’s culture of rebellion. It helps us see why such protean rock figures as Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, and Patti Smith adopted Rimbaud as their idol.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The author of the critically acclaimed novel The World as I Found It brilliantly reimagines the scandalous life of the pioneering, proto-punk poet Arthur Rimbaud.

Arthur Rimbaud, the enfant terrible of French letters, more than holds his own with Lord Byron and Oscar Wilde in terms of bold writing and salacious interest. In the space of one year—1871—with a handful of startling poems he transformed himself from a teenaged bumpkin into the literary sensation of Paris. He was taken up, then taken in, by the older and married poet Paul Verlaine in a passionate affair. When Rimbaud sought to end it, Verlaine, in a jeal­ous rage, shot him. Shortly thereafter, Rimbaud—just shy of his twentieth birthday—declared himself finished with literature. His resignation notice was his immortal prose poem A Season in Hell. In time, Rimbaud wound up a pros­perous trader and arms dealer in Ethiopia. But a cancerous leg forced him to return to France, to the family farm, with his sister and loving but overbearing mother. He died at thirty-seven.

Bruce Duffy takes the bare facts of Rimbaud’s fascinating existence and brings them vividly to life in a story rich with people, places, and paradox. In this unprecedented work of fictional biography, Duffy conveys, as few ever have, the inner turmoil of this calculating genius of outrage, whose work and untidy life essentially anticipated and created the twentieth century’s culture of rebellion. It helps us see why such protean rock figures as Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, and Patti Smith adopted Rimbaud as their idol.

More books from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Cover of the book What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book 1946 by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book Signs and Wonders by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book Half the Sky by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book Celestial Navigation by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book In Search of Satisfaction by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book Free Speech in an Open Society by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book Hippie by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book Gateway to the Moon by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book Ojos de perro azul by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book The Diary of an American Au Pair by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book The Paris Directive by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book The Unspoken Alliance by Bruce Duffy
Cover of the book Crazy by Bruce Duffy
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy