phoenixx-s:literature meme || {¼} relationships between writers → Paul Verlaine & Arthur Rimbaud
phoenixx-s:literature meme || {¼} relationships between writers → Paul Verlaine & Arthur RimbaudRimbaud sent Verlaine two letters with several of his poem, including the hypnotic, finally shocking “Le Dormeur du Val” (The Sleeper in the Valley). Verlaine was intrigued by Rimbaud, and replied, “Come, dear great soul. We await you; we desire you,” sending him a one-way ticket to Paris. Rimbaud arrived in late September 1871 and resided briefly in Verlaine’s home.Rimbaud and Verlaine began a short and torrid affair. They led a wild, vagabond-like life spiced by absinthe and hashish. During this time, Verlaine abandoned his wife and infant son (both of whom he had abused in his alcoholic rages). In England they lived in considerable poverty in Bloomsbury and in Camden Town, scraping a living mostly from teaching, plus an allowance from Verlaine’s mother. The relationship between the two poets grew increasingly bitter.In late June 1873, Verlaine returned to Paris alone, but quickly began to mourn Rimbaud’s absence. On 8 July he telegraphed Rimbaud, asking him to come to the Hotel Liège in Brussels. The reunion went badly, they argued continuously, and Verlaine took refuge in heavy drinking. On the morning of 10 July, Verlaine bought a revolver and ammunition. About 16:00, “in a drunken rage”, he fired two shots at Rimbaud, one of them wounding the 18-year-old in the left wrist. -- source link
#rimbaud