The Letters of the Seer
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| + | "To arrive at the [[unknown]] through the [[disorder]]ing of all the [[senses]], that's the point." --Arthur Rimbaud | ||
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| + | [[Image:Nicolas Ledoux.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Théatre de Besançon]], interior view by [[Claude Nicolas Ledoux]] ]] | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| - | "[[The Letters of the Seer]]" (original French ''Les lettres du voyant'') refer to two letters by [[Arthur Rimbaud]]. One was written to [[Paul Demeny]], a second to [[Georges Izambard]]. In both he proclaimed that he wanted to be come a "voyant", a seer. | + | "[[The Letters of the Seer]]" (original French ''Les lettres du voyant'') refer to two letters by [[Arthur Rimbaud]], written in May 1871. One was written to [[Georges Izambard]], a second to [[Paul Demeny]]. In both Rimbaud proclaimed that he wanted to become a "[[voyant]]", a seer. |
| - | ==To arrive at the unknown through the disordering of all the senses== | + | The letters also feature a radical critique of [[Western poetry]] since antiquity and a defense of the emergence of a new poetic reason. |
| - | :To arrive at the [[unknown]] through the [[disordering]] of all the [[senses]], that's the point. | + | |
| - | In his letter to Izambard, Rimbaud proclaims, | + | The first (and shortest) of these letters was written May 13, 1871 and addressed to Georges Izambard, the former college professor of Rimbaud in Charleville. The facsimile of this letter was published for the first time, at the initiative of the recipient, in October 1928 in the ''Revue européenne''. It contains the poem ''[[Le Cœur supplicié]]''. |
| - | :Maintenant, je m'encrapule le plus possible. Pourquoi? Je veux être poète, et je travaille à me rendre voyant : vous ne comprendrez pas du tout, et je ne saurais presque vous expliquer. Il s'agit '''d'arriver à l'inconnu par le dérèglement de tous les sens'''. Les souffrances sont énormes, mais il faut être fort, être né poète, et je me suis reconnu poète. Ce n'est pas du tout ma faute. C'est faux de dire : Je pense : on devrait dire : On me pense. –Pardon du jeu de mots.– | + | The second letter was written May 15, 1871 to the poet Paul Demeny, to whom Rimbaud had given a copy of his earlier poetry a few months earlier. Its content was revealed to the public by Paterne Berrichon in October 1912 in ''[[La Nouvelle Revue française]]''. It contains the poems "[[Chant de guerre parisien]]", "[[Mes petites amoureuses]]" and "[[Accroupissements]]". It is also here that the now famous dictum, "[[Je est un autre]]" appeared for the first time. |
| - | :[[Je est un autre]]. Tant pis pour le bois qui se trouve violon, et Nargue aux inconscients, qui ergotent sur ce qu'ils ignorent tout à fait! (345-46) | + | ==To arrive at the unknown through the disordering of all the senses== |
| + | In both of these letters Rimbaud says that he wants "'''[[disorder]] all the [[senses]]''''." | ||
| + | ===In the first letter=== | ||
| + | In his letter to Izambard, Rimbaud proclaims, | ||
| + | |||
| + | :Maintenant, je m'encrapule le plus possible. Pourquoi? Je veux être poète, et je travaille à me rendre voyant : vous ne comprendrez pas du tout, et je ne saurais presque vous expliquer. Il s'agit d'arriver à l'inconnu par '''le dérèglement de tous les sens'''. Les souffrances sont énormes, mais il faut être fort, être né poète, et je me suis reconnu poète. Ce n'est pas du tout ma faute. C'est faux de dire : Je pense : on devrait dire : On me pense. –Pardon du jeu de mots.- | ||
| + | ::--[[Lettre de Rimbaud à Georges Izambard - 13 mai 1871]] | ||
| ;Translation: | ;Translation: | ||
| - | [Now I am going in for debauch. Why? I want to be a poet, and I am working to make myself a visionary: you won't possibly understand, and I don't know how to explain it to you. To arrive at the unknown through the disordering of all the senses, that's the point. The sufferings will be tremendous, but one must be strong, be born a poet: it is in no way my fault. It is wrong to say: I think. One should say: I am thought. Pardon the pun. | + | :[Now I am going in for debauch. Why? I want to be a poet, and I am working to make myself a visionary: you won't possibly understand, and I don't know how to explain it to you. To arrive at the unknown through the disordering of all the senses, that's the point. The sufferings will be tremendous, but one must be strong, be born a poet: it is in no way my fault. It is wrong to say: I think. One should say: I am thought. Pardon the pun. |
| + | ::[http://www.genders.org/g32/g32_cole.html] | ||
| + | ===In the second letter=== | ||
| + | :Je dis qu'il faut être voyant, se faire voyant. Le poète se fait voyant par un long, immense et raisonné '''dérèglement de tous les sens'''. | ||
| + | ::[[Lettre de Rimbaud à Paul Demeny - 15 mai 1871 ]] | ||
| - | I is some one else. So much the worse for the wood that discovers it's a violin, and to hell with the heedless who cavil about something they know nothing about! (xxvii)] -- http://www.genders.org/g32/g32_cole.html [accessed Mar 2004] | + | ;Translation: |
| - | ==French article== | + | |
| - | Les '''« Lettres du voyant »''' sont le nom sous lequel l'histoire littéraire a pris l'habitude de désigner deux lettres écrites par [[Arthur Rimbaud]] en mai [[1871]], dans lesquelles il développe une critique radicale de la poésie occidentale depuis l'antiquité et défend l'émergence d'une nouvelle raison poétique. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | La première (et la plus courte) de ces deux lettres fut écrite le [[13 mai]] 1871 et adressée à [[Georges Izambard]], l'ancien professeur de Rimbaud au collège de Charleville. Le [[fac-similé]] de cette lettre fut publié pour la première fois, à l'initiative de son destinataire, en octobre 1928 dans la ''Revue européenne''. Elle contient le poème ''[[Le Cœur supplicié]]''. | + | |
| - | La seconde lettre dite « du voyant » fut adressée le 15 mai 1871 au poète [[Paul Demeny]], à qui Rimbaud avait confié quelques mois plus tôt une copie de son œuvre poétique antérieure, en vue d'une publication. Son contenu fut révélé au public par [[Paterne Berrichon]] en octobre 1912 dans ''[[La Nouvelle Revue française]]''. Elle contient les poèmes ''[[Chant de guerre parisien]]'', ''Mes petites amoureuses'' et ''[[Accroupissements]]''. C'est là qu'apparait également la formule, restée fameuse, « Je est un autre » ("Car Je est un autre. Si le cuivre s'éveille clairon, il n'y a rien de sa faute.") | + | :I say one must be a ''seer'', make oneself a ''seer''. The poet makes himself a ''seer'' by an immense, long, deliberate ''derangement'' of all the senses. |
| + | ::translation unidentified | ||
| - | ==See also== | ||
| - | * ''Je dis qu'il faut être voyant, se faire voyant. Le poète se fait voyant par un long, immense et raisonné dérèglement de tous les sens.'' | ||
| - | ** I say one must be a ''seer'', make oneself a ''seer''. The poet makes himself a ''seer'' by an immense, long, deliberate ''derangement'' of all the senses. | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| *[[Lettre de Rimbaud à Paul Demeny - 15 mai 1871]] | *[[Lettre de Rimbaud à Paul Demeny - 15 mai 1871]] | ||
| *[[Lettre de Rimbaud à Georges Izambard - 13 mai 1871]] | *[[Lettre de Rimbaud à Georges Izambard - 13 mai 1871]] | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Revision as of 20:00, 25 February 2014
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"To arrive at the unknown through the disordering of all the senses, that's the point." --Arthur Rimbaud |
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Featured: |
"The Letters of the Seer" (original French Les lettres du voyant) refer to two letters by Arthur Rimbaud, written in May 1871. One was written to Georges Izambard, a second to Paul Demeny. In both Rimbaud proclaimed that he wanted to become a "voyant", a seer.
The letters also feature a radical critique of Western poetry since antiquity and a defense of the emergence of a new poetic reason.
The first (and shortest) of these letters was written May 13, 1871 and addressed to Georges Izambard, the former college professor of Rimbaud in Charleville. The facsimile of this letter was published for the first time, at the initiative of the recipient, in October 1928 in the Revue européenne. It contains the poem Le Cœur supplicié.
The second letter was written May 15, 1871 to the poet Paul Demeny, to whom Rimbaud had given a copy of his earlier poetry a few months earlier. Its content was revealed to the public by Paterne Berrichon in October 1912 in La Nouvelle Revue française. It contains the poems "Chant de guerre parisien", "Mes petites amoureuses" and "Accroupissements". It is also here that the now famous dictum, "Je est un autre" appeared for the first time.
Contents |
To arrive at the unknown through the disordering of all the senses
In both of these letters Rimbaud says that he wants "disorder all the senses'."
In the first letter
In his letter to Izambard, Rimbaud proclaims,
- Maintenant, je m'encrapule le plus possible. Pourquoi? Je veux être poète, et je travaille à me rendre voyant : vous ne comprendrez pas du tout, et je ne saurais presque vous expliquer. Il s'agit d'arriver à l'inconnu par le dérèglement de tous les sens. Les souffrances sont énormes, mais il faut être fort, être né poète, et je me suis reconnu poète. Ce n'est pas du tout ma faute. C'est faux de dire : Je pense : on devrait dire : On me pense. –Pardon du jeu de mots.-
- Translation
- [Now I am going in for debauch. Why? I want to be a poet, and I am working to make myself a visionary: you won't possibly understand, and I don't know how to explain it to you. To arrive at the unknown through the disordering of all the senses, that's the point. The sufferings will be tremendous, but one must be strong, be born a poet: it is in no way my fault. It is wrong to say: I think. One should say: I am thought. Pardon the pun.
In the second letter
- Je dis qu'il faut être voyant, se faire voyant. Le poète se fait voyant par un long, immense et raisonné dérèglement de tous les sens.
- Translation
- I say one must be a seer, make oneself a seer. The poet makes himself a seer by an immense, long, deliberate derangement of all the senses.
- translation unidentified
See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "The Letters of the Seer" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
