The Drunken Sailor: The Life of the Poet Arthur Rimbaud in His Own Words

Description

A biography of the most mythic of literary figures and a paean to wanderlust, from the critically acclaimed author of The Rime of the Modern Mariner, Woody Guthrie and the Dust Bowl Ballads and Cormorance. The Drunken Sailor traces the life of Arthur Rimbaud- poet, surrealist, libertine and gun runner. In dazzling artwork, Nick Hayes follows Rimbaud from his youth in Ardennes to the poetry salons of Paris, from the absinthe-glazed passion of his relationship with Verlaine to his flight into the jungles of Indonesia and the deserts of Yemen and Egypt. Told entirely in Rimbaud's own words, from a new translation of Le bateau ivre, The Drunken Sailor confirms Nick Hayes' place as one of the most talented graphic novelists at work today.

Nick Hayes is the author of The Rime of the Modern Mariner, an updating of Coleridge's famous poem, and the visual biography Woody Guthrie and the Dust Bowl Ballads, both of which are among the most highly regarded of recent British long-form comics. He has also published two collections of his short comics, Lovely Grey Day and 11 Folk Songs. He is the founding editor of Meat magazine, a periodical showcasing new writing, comics and illustration and has won two Guardian Media awards.

Magnificent illustrations... [Hayes] has done a wondrous job... his visual narrative has an intense, restless pace... here is a ribald beauty you find only rarely between two covers. -- Rachel Cooke * The Observer * At once phantasmagorical and bewitching... the best of his career so far. * Bookmunch * Hayes's green-filtered, stylised illustrations have a breathtaking punch to them. -- Teddy Jamieson * Herald Scotland * The Drunken Sailor is an Impressionist hymn to Rimbaud. But Hayes' song is greatly embellished with knowledge... You run the gamut when you read this book. * Bookmunch * A bewitching work from one of Britain's finest graphic novelists. -- James Smart * Guardian,**Books of the Year** *