TRANSLATING RIMBAUD'S ILLUMINATIONS

Translating Rimbaud’s Illuminations is a critique of the assumptions which currently underlie our thinking on literary translation. It offers an alternative vision; extending the parameters of literary translation by showing that such translation is itself a form of experimental creative writing. It also provides a reassessment of Rimbaud’s creative impulses and specifically his prose poems, the Illuminations.

 

In the expanding field of translation studies, a brilliant and demanding book such as this has a valuable place. In addition, it also provides some fascinating ‘hands on’ translation work of a very practical kind. Published as a sequel to the author’s Translating Baudelaire (UEP, 2000), it will become part of the canon.

Clive Scott is professor emeritus of European literature at the University of East Anglia.