A Season in Abyssinia: An Impersonation of Arthur Rimbaud

Paperback

Main Details

Title A Season in Abyssinia: An Impersonation of Arthur Rimbaud
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Paul Strathern
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback
Pages:320
Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 126
Category/GenreModern and contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
ISBN/Barcode 9780571314904
ClassificationsDewey:823.914
Audience
General
Edition Main

Publishing Details

Publisher Faber & Faber
Imprint Faber & Faber
Publication Date 19 June 2014
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Marseilles, 1891: as Arthur Rimbaud lies dying in hospital, his mind wanders fitfully - taking him back to Commune-era Paris, and the scandalous life he led with Verlaine. But, above all, he is transported to Harar, Abyssinia, where he ventured in 1880 to seek his fortune, having chucking in the disreputable game of writing poetry... Paul Strathern's second novel, published in 1972, won a Somerset Maugham Award both for its superb evocation of the colour, squalor and hurlyburly of Harar and for its inspired 'impersonation' of Rimbaud - restless, ragged self-overcomer, would-be explorer-imperialist, and genius poet repulsed by his past literary life. In a new preface to this edition Strathern discusses the mercurial personality of Rimbaud, his novel's bold shifts between first and third person, and his own travels in East Africa that informed the book.