A Season In Hell - Arthur Rimbaud BOOK REVIEW/THOUGHTS

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ARTICLES:
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[@solovief]

I got the mug for a friend who LOVES it. So, get the mug.

[@christopherpaul7588]

Rimbaud is my favorite poet!! I think another important point is that he was extremely critical of bad poetry, poetry that was banal, hollow, very safe. And he changed that trend! He swore in his poetry and wrote about things no one else was writing about.

[@onfaerystories]

I've recently read Rimbaud's whole work in French and I couldn't agree more! My favourite poem is "L'Orgie parisien" (The Parisian Orgy). There's also a single verse that stuck with me for some reason which is: "Renversons la douleur de nos lacrymatoires." I would translate it as: "Let's overthrow the sorrow of our lachrymatories". Just reflect a minute about how clever it is. Reading Rimbaud's poetry enriched my vocabulary and made me realize how powerful words are. He was playing with words in such a brilliant way! I really felt as if he was literally juggling with words, as if words were materialized between his fingers. That's what I'm aiming for. Only a genius can do that.

[@BetweenLinesAndLife]

Rimbaud, one of my first literary loves! Very happy to see you enjoyed him!

[@warlockofwordsreturnsrb4358]

That work of that quality was written by someone before the age of twenty is utterly gobsmacking, many of my favourite writers sang his praises in one form or another over the decades - William Burroughs, Samuel Beckett, HP Lovecraft called him a 'titan', Iain Sinclair, Jean Cocteau, the list goes on winding its way through most of the interesting writers in the world.

[@hotwings757]

I agree with all your viewpoints in pretty much every vid. You’re really good at what you do 👍 I love Rimbaud, my favorite poet as a 30 year old, and he’s been since I was 16 or so. Keep up the great work 😃

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Coffee Lottery: 12:16

[@jtetteroo2919]

THE OLD LIFE....THROW IT AWAY....AND THEN SET IT ON FIRE!!!

[@dsarkar1681]

Great review 👍 I got to know about Rimbaud from Patti Smith's memoir ' Just Kids' where she also mentioned how she wanted to visit Harar because of Rimbaud's travel.

[@franciman2]

Thank you for your insight, I'd love to hear more!

[@kylewente9114]

That last shot in the intro - gorgeous.

[@jamieoneill3282]

Your reflections on these books you read are excellent man. I have been subscribed to your channel for over a year now and I have seen its development. Your earlier videos were more rambling. I always enjoyed them but they felt like you were emptying your head as much as reviewing a book. However, recently they have been more focused. This one on Rimbaud is probably your best. You appear to be slaying some dragons brother, fair play to you!

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Good deal, thanks for watching.

[@mehya3266]

Amazing discussion!! I love your analysis of Rimbaud- not only as a poet, but also as a person. This was such an interesting and enjoyable video

[@juanescobedo6380]

Man that eternity lines are my favorite too! Thought the same thing Can't stop thinking about it, blindness is infinity

[@mksrnsrsr]

You remind me of Thomas Yates in House of Cards! Great review of my favorite poet! Subscribed:)

[@valsi7923]

I finished reading A Season In Hell a couple of days ago, and this was the video I needed....

[@artificialescapades2323]

Time of the Assassins! There's good supplementary material! Kind of a random side question: Is Paul Verlaine on your wavelength when it comes to poetry? I haven't been this psyched since you reviewed William Blake. Percy Shelley seems more like your kindred spirit, but you have options, man!

[@leasardo8766]

Beautifully put! Rimbaud is an absolute favorite.

[@yansen8481]

Love has to be reinvented.

[@tristangoding]

Loved Rimbaud when I was in high school. I mean, I hated it, but I loved how much I hated it. Upon recently revisiting his work, however, I am both charmed and awe-inspired. I still love how much I hate it, but I'd be lying if I said that it didn't resonate with me. In fact, all it does is resonate. Everyone really does love you when you're dead...and maybe that's how things should stay?

[@nozecone]

They do .... I mean, you stay dead ... !

[@peterodrich9778]

I've been reading his collected works in french recently and was very impressed. Couldn't agree more with your review :)

[@davidscharf188]

Excellent!we love you here in the Lower Depths...

[@EamonnSheehy]

I got his Collected Poems when I was around 15, it has had a lasting impression everything since. Brilliant texts.

[@-_Luciano_-]

What were your favourites

[@dashbustour3647]

Another good one! I am currently reading my third biography on Hemingway-which I think Ernest would have had the lady who wrote it murdered if he were alive today. Also reading Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgaard. Keep up the good work! Have you covered Henry Miller on here-I haven't seen it. Sincerely, Louis Ferdinand Celine

[@alfonsomango_suyu]

I'm not fluent in french, less than in english. I just learned a bit at high school. But I enjoy reading Rimbaud in french. The sounds, the words that that guy put together blows my mind. Mauvais Sang is awsome. One of my favorite french poets.

[@havardwarnes5607]

Great review!

[@MsMidooox]

I am curious if you would want to review Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo trilogy.

[@DrSleep00]

@Better Than Food: Book Reviews Hi Cliff, have you read any works by Haruki Murakami?

Rereading the Varèse translation right now. I find that I’m getting a deeper understanding.

[@johnstallings4049]

Just discover your awesome channel and subscribed. Any chance on reviewing anything by Richard Brautigan? Trout Fishing In America? ❄🌎❄

[@genocidalronin7188]

Ever thought of reviewing child of god by Cormac Mccarthy?

[@risboturbide9396]

Great review. Cheers, man! 🍻🍻

[@henrygerman7858]

Another interesting fact about Rimbaud in Harar: he was a friend of Hailie Selassie's father, and Selassie as you know was the "god" of Bob Marley's Rastafarian religion. Rimbaud's caravans into and out of Harar were not attacked, and he and his employees not massacred because he traded fairly, dressed the same, and ate the same food as the locals, specifically avoiding pork and alcohol. More remarkably, he learned to speak Arabic and the languages of the local tribes, including the Danakil language. Please consider reviewing my book, The Seer Letters Experiment, about how a quasi-orphan peasant drop out from a typewriter repair program at a third rate vocational high school was inspired by Rimbaud's method, the "dereglement de tous les sens," to become the "supreme savant" and to eventually graduate from the Columbia University School of Law. True story. An example of "the utility" of Rimbaud's work and life, its resonance, of how influential Rimbaud was to young people; I was 19 when I randomly picked Louise Varese's translation of "Illuminations" from a library shelf. You can use the review of my book to discuss Rimbaud's Seer letters which are very interesting in and of themselves. You can find "The Seer Letters Experiment" here: www.amazon.com/Seer-Letters-Experiment-Enrique-Paz/dp/1944397035

[@Sirlene-et9ut]

I love Rimbaud poems so much!

[@jamespoppitz3336]

Excellent review and read on Rimbaud...impossible desire,wonderlust,purging oneself of your demons,....hmmm,hmm,sounds familiar....let's make a hero out of him,let's melt down another golden calf....it's that one photograph that really sets the hooks....poetry is insane...that's why we relate.....150 years later...the mystery lasts a long time...hmmmmm....

[@brianray8351]

When I read this, I could only see my ex's diary entries. It ruined the content for me to an extent, but I still think you brought up a valid point regarding the desperation to change, which ultimately determined Rimbaud's content. I read this about a year ago, but I wasn't in the same situation then than I am now, so who knows? It may be worth another go.

[@stamatissavvanis5862]

I know that was 3 years ago but compairing a season in hell with your ex's diary entries either means it was a very bad translation or your ex was a genius and you couldn't cope with it or you just need to quit reading garbage...

[@FacundoOblivi0n]

You should read "Extracting the Stone of Madness" by Alejandra Pizarnik, an argentinian poet and probably the only accursed poet from my country

[@ankitpal3615]

Reading Nadja there. Do check out Throat Sprockets

[@emmamaes8607]

Very inspiring thanks

[@MartialDriscoll]

So glad this review happened

[@MrHoneyBadger7]

what was the poem about eternity and the sun....

[@alexjohnson9798]

My coffee machine is so shitty I'd feel guilty if I won those beans

[@yacovmitchenko1490]

A fine presentation about Rimbaud's life, and I agree with much that you've said. However, I think it's possible to tell whether a poem is great, irrespective of its reception. In other words, a poem's greatness is intrinsic to it; it doesn't require widespread support or validation. Or perhaps the statement may be modified in this way: as Whitman said, great poetry requires great readers. Ask yourself: are there many of the latter? What qualifies as great poetry? Well, although nothing is written in stone and although criteria can change from age to age, some things remain constant. For example, there's an absence of cliche and platitude; the expressions are fresh and surprising; they help one see the world afresh. Second, the poetry has layers, which allows for multiple interpretations. In other words, if it doesn't invite re-readings, it lacks depth. Third, the associations, the phrases must have a memorable and lapidary quality. One trap that many would-be poets fall into is that they put the message or their ideology or their agenda above the actual language. Yet a poet's primary responsibility is the memorable use of language. So they wind up with something that may sound like propaganda or mere sentimentality instead of genuine poetry. And lacking in playfulness the "poetry" tends to be insipid, a re-statement of what we've heard countless times before, and boring. Fourth, it must possess some degree of technical excellence. Can the poem be purged of needless modifiers, excessive sentiment or abstractions? Many things can pull a poem down. This, I realize, is a grey area. Concision is, in many cases, preferred. Fifth, the great poem must rise above the local or merely cultural to embrace or embody the universal. Obviously it must; otherwise its life won't be a very long one. That's why Du Fu, arguably the greatest Chinese poet of all time, still manages to resonate with me 13 hundred years after his death, even though I know little about Chinese culture and wouldn't particularly wish to live in China, ever. In short, if a poem possesses what I've talked about here, it's probably great - even if your friends or family don't give a shit about it.

[@nozecone]

I'm going to copy/paste this post and have it on hand for when I'm deciding whether a poem I write is ready for the world or for the garbage bin ... ! Excellent commentary.

[@zach11590]

I found an island in your arms

[@Outrigger200]

Hey wait a minute

[@mojoarmstretch7261]

Country in your eyes

[@manindersingh6748]

Arms are chains eyes that lie

[@ConnorElliot]

Great video! It really is an exhausting read haha.

[@eugeniooliden2093]

Hi! You should read La invencion de Morel (The invention of Morel) by Adolfo Bioy Casares (Borges' long time friend). Borges said that it wasn´t hiperbolous to define the novel as "perfection". One of my favourites and it is quite short. Sobre heroes y tumbas from Sábato is another one you should check. Cheers

[@eugeniooliden2093]

great reviews btw! thank you for them!

[@Longformula]

I’d like to use a lil snippet of this for my next KZbin video (art & depression).p Please let me know if you protest! Thanks, Jaunt Nominal (a.k.a.The Recluse Queen) {By the way- I really enjoyed your review, “Same for Journey to the End of the Night” which I watched recently. Thanks for these. That’s the same copy of the book I have.)

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Sure thing, go for it, thanks for watching.

[@Longformula]

Better Than Food: Book Reviews thanks for making em!

[@bipedofthecentury9956]

So when will you do the new Michael Gira book or Gravity's Rainbow? EDIT: the Micheal Gira book is just a re release of the Consumer

[@gobinizar]

Thumbs up for Gravity's Rainbow

[@willbean4881]

Gira said 3 out of the 8 stories in the collection are from the Consumer, the rest are new.

[@r.m.2598]

He already did review the consumer.

[@jtetteroo2919]

Stop mentioning Gravity's Rainbow. He already said he won't review it.

[@miguelzarate8145]

Do you know in which vide he said it?

[@johannbadenhorst4920]

Do you know The Sound?

[@challengethyshelf7002]

Johann Badenhorst Recently obtained “All Fall Down” on vinyl and am bloody in love. So good.

[@bbslcm]

Please read Joseph Brodsky's poems. This man is literary out of this earth. He is absolute genius.

[@juliusaugustino8409]

Yes! Finally!! One of my favourites!

j'ai lu une saison en enfer dans le dernière mois, what a coincidence... saludos de Argentina!

[@user-wl4sr4tl7f]

Hey, Scholagladiatoria just made a video on Sir Richard Francis Burton today. Cool coincidence.

[@MrDEDE3001]

Suggestion : « restez vivant » de Michel Houellebecq ;)

[@alejandrorz6577]

Rambo, Rainbow and another amazing names given by youtube's automatic translation algorithm. :D

[@PierrotHG]

The Rambo character was actually named after Rimbaud and probably inspired to some extent by the life of the 19th century french poet. They are both social outcasts rejected by the local bourgeoisie. They have both joined the army and served in southeast Asia (Rimbaud was for a short time a mercenary in the dutch army). They are both drifters, unfit for life in western society, who tried to forget their previous life through wanderings and acculturation in a non-western culture. They both suffer from mental instability. They have both been shot by the man who was their mentor and whom they trusted.

[@BurtTurbo]

and they were both homosexual

[@challengethyshelf7002]

Didn’t know about the death of Mark E. Smith. It is a damn shame. At least we have an impressive body of work to remember him by. Onward, Hip Priest.

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Heee's (still) not ap pre ci a ted.

[@cafinario]

Cool stuff.

[@theart8039]

I studied Rimbaud for many years and come from near Charleville ..I studied him as a child, teen and young adult, I have concluded that he was probably a bit boring to know unless you knew him very well. Recent discoveries have revealed that he wasn't the smelly yob that Graham Robb writes about (a brilliant book), but rather a middle class person, pretty unremarkable other than his very few poems..Many kids in Charleville are the same to this day. The poignant part of all of this, is he rejected his earlier life and was horrified when people found him in Aden

[@dant5349]

I hate it when KZbin comments aren’t about the video but are actually requesting another video or something but- Will you ever review any Virginia Woolf?

[@BluShades]

That intro kicks so much ass.

[@adamrubin6248]

Here to suggest: Sarah Kane, Anna Kavan...Cliff, for the people.

[@danielalexandermclachlanga3781]

star shards blown from nose a cosmos of song for a soundless realm ... while within was beyond " out" and without was where footsteps hover and eternity rang with stomping flutters horizons dust were freckles for tha moon and metaphors can not see or explain infinities glow

[@jamesmckean232]

M.E.S., Miller, & Rimbaud mentioned within a few short breaths 🙏

[@kubanischezigarren6586]

Fuck Yeah! Rimbaud salvaged poetry for me. I wanted to ask if you have had some experience with polish literature. I would love to hear your thoughts on Sacher-Masoch, Gombrowicz and Witkacy . I get that your reading list is probably exploding by now. Thanks for the great content.

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Exploding, yes, but when you ask me if I've had such specific experiences I get really intrigued - No, I haven't, where do I start?

[@kubanischezigarren6586]

Better Than Food: Book Reviews These are just writers that i thought you might be very interested in. Sacher-masoch wrote "Venus in Furs" towards the end of the 19th century. The term masochism was coined after his name. Interesting thoughts about sexual dynamics and transgression, which you might be interested because of de sade and bataille. Witkacy was kind of an decadent writer in the golden 20s who anticipated the rise of totalitariansim. His best book i guess is "Insatiability" which is a strange surreal science fiction book about a future mega state holding people in control with drugs and sexual excess. Very philosophical but also entertainingly chaotic. Gombrowicz is most closely alligned with existentialism i would say. His novels are deeply absurd and rely on interesting and kind of perverse character dynamics. To start out id reccomend "Pornography". Hope anything here sparks your interest.

[@SputnikExperiment]

... on that note, Marek Hlasko is a cross of Dostoevsky and James Dean: Gloom, doom, death, prison and nihilism. Tadeusz Konwicki "A Minor Apocalypse" and "A Dreambook for our Time" read well in English. Gombrowicz is awkward in English -- much like the early Dostoevsky translations. Mishima loved the guy. See the introductory essay to Bataille's "My Mother, Mme Edwarda ..." You're more likely to find Witkacy in English under his full name: Witkiewicz. I know his painting more than I do his writing. Check out "The Emperor" [about Haile Selassie] and "Shah of Shahs" [about Mohammed Pahlavi], both by Kapuscinski. These guys are more contemporary: Think post war to 1980s. Anyway Cliff, got me some Harry Crews the other night. Loving it so far, thanks for the review man.

[@voyagetoart3115]

You have missed Jerzy Grotowski.

[@kubanischezigarren6586]

asif mallick Great Dude. But more important as a theatre director and theorist. I dont know if he has actually written novels or plays.

[@MamoNanomona]

Your reason for filming this... Is exactly what a season in hell is about. Good job with the irony.

[@thejamesbrothersband5491]

Hell yea thanks man.

[@elizabethkalac8680]

read Whitman

[@kirin4244]

You've done it. I've been sold on Rimbaud.

[@johannbadenhorst4920]

Recently discovered The Sound. Amazing post-punk band.

[@calebmitchell-ward1585]

You must review slavoj zizeks lenin 2017 or Mortality by Christopher Hitchens

[@krishnusings]

Huge Jordan Peterson fan arent you Cliff? :) "Burning off the deadwood"

[@armeetindergill]

Hey bro, you too reading 12 rules for life eh?

[@Longformula]

Hi! I know you are very busy, so don’t worry I don’t actually expect you to even have time to watch this, & DEFINITELY don’t want you to feel obligated to respond. But, it almost seemed weird not to leave the link somewhere. So anyway this is the video, that I used a bit of your review in: kzbin.info/www/bejne/naqmfI1sbdV6ndU Thank you again! You and your reviews are terrific. I liked this clip largely because of the WAY (intelligently but with Feeling!) you discussed Rimbaud. -Jaunty

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Cool, thanks so much!

[@sneedle252]

To me, it's still not as good as Drunken Boat, but it's very good. Particularly describing the East as the true Fatherland and talking about idleness and wealth and danger in Africa.

[@IsoMorphix]

Thats my seawall, man. I grew up sitting on that damned seawall.

[@IsoMorphix]

Just so weird to see my hometown rendered in a youtube video series I was already subscribed to.

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

It's a beautiful place - we're very grateful to be here.

[@hyoroemonmeto6874]

Vampire Bund send me here

[@andyalam5074]

He died young to enter that “eternal” hell “early” 😂

[@KingMinosxxvi]

In French?

[@Rowley23]

Review Tropic of Cancer, Brother!

[@shaunnortje999]

SANCTION -THE BOOK

[@who.ishaileyy]

I am so upset that he probably wouldn’t like his fans I am so parasocial

[@r.m.2598]

So, pain, misery, agony, depression and hate makes you great artist.

[@boriseusebius3947]

UBER writing great poems makes you a great artist.

[@AleksandarBloom]

In most cases Yes, but along with the ambition, talent, and will to struggle. Pain, Misery, Agony and Depression are more filters that will help to avoid frill when it comes to creation; to put it simply: work that does not address Pain, Misery, Agony and Depression is rarely worth your time and, so, to create art about them authentically you will need to experience them, and then Sublimate them to a work of art. Hate helps, remember Celine or William Gass; lamenting or ranting about... can be a very good way to propel yourself (as a creative person) towards your goal. There is no Negativity that can't be used.

[@wcropp1]

Those are some of the experiences that people find compelling. People also like love stories, though. If it is well written about an interesting or compelling theme, people will like it. Many of us have a taste for the dark and subversive, no doubt.

Not only this but what and how u use these feelings to transmit something

[@yacovmitchenko1490]

Another point: although I respect Rimbaud's achievements, they're overshadowed by the romance and adventures of his life. The art itself is still immature; it has much more howling and self-aggrandizement than it does wisdom or depth. Of course, one can respond by saying that he was young, and the young are often that way. But because we're assessing the work in historical terms, a more stringent and unsparing approach is called for, because we take him much more seriously than we would merely rebellious and discontented youth. His work shows abundant talent and a rather modest achievement - at least as compared with the far more mature masters. So his reputation is well out of proportion to the actual achievement. I can see only about 3 or 4 poems - 5 maybe - which qualify as great - whereas someone like Yeats, say, has over 40. My main point is that Rimbaud enjoys the reputation he has because of a certain cult of personality worship. Yet it's the art that matters. I don't give a shit if the artist himself was a boring prude or child molester. I only care about the quality of the art. And I would wish aspiring artists to pay more attention to the art and craft and less attention to how they present themselves to the public at large.

[@nozecone]

Very thoughtful and valuable posts, that should be read by everyone here.

[@shangrila73eldorado]

Rimbaud in English does not compare sonically to Rimbaud en Francaise

[@charlestaylor8624]

Sigh, why can't the you tube critics actually dig into the poetry? Once again, you riff off into his life, which is so fascinating the poetry gets buried by it. You can use a bio approach to dig into the poetry. The best I've seen on KZbin is a discussion of the politics of the time, the wars of the French empire.

[@whiteike255]

When’s the review of Jordan Peterson’s book coming?

[@armeetindergill]

Yes

[@sebastianmelmoth685]

Sweetheart - I love you, but that beard.... never again. Great content. Thank you.

[@robertjohnson7370]

wrong.