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Manifestations of the Self in Rimbaud's Illuminations
Author(s) -
Macklin Gerald M.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
orbis litterarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.109
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1600-0730
pISSN - 0105-7510
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0730.1995.tb00077.x
Subject(s) - depiction , alienation , drama , poetry , philosophy , literature , humanities , art , law , political science
The article sets out to examine various facets of the highly complex process of self‐presentation in Rimbaud's work with particular reference to the Illuminations. Predicating its argument on the famous declarations about the moi in the letters of May 13 and 15 1871, the paper relates the Rimbaldian definition of the self to other such attempted definitions [Baudelaire, Kafka, Michaux]. Three key areas of self‐depiction are treated in depth in the course of the study. These are [i] the highly sophisticated process of role‐playing in Rimbaud involving preferential identities; [ii] the very deliberate alienation and distantiation by which Rimbaud disengages from these roles and the poems in which they appear; and [iii] the relationship between self and other in the Illuminations which is characterized by a mixture of intimacy and aloofness. The paper concludes with detailed comments on ‘Solde’seen as a microcosm of the drama of the self that has been followed throughout the analysis. “Si les vieux imbéciles n'avaient pas trouvé du Moi que la signification fausse, nous n'aurions pas à balayer ces millions de squelettes qui, depuis un temps infini, ont accumulé les produits de leur intelligence borgnesse, en s'en clamant les auteurs!”