Arthur Rimbaud Biography (Page 3)
Escaping Poetry: The Abyssinian Era
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December 1878, Rimbaud is in Lanarka, Cyprus, working as
a team leader in a stone quarry. After six months he falls ill with typhoid
fever and travels back to Roche for treatment where he's visited by his
friend Ernest Delahaye.
Delahaye asks him whether he's still thinking about literature; he reports
Rimbaud's response as follows:
"Shaking his head, he had a half-amused, half-irritated smile, as if
I had asked him: "Do you still play with a hoop?" and simply answered:
"I do not mind about it anymore."
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In March 1880, Rimbaud is back in Cyprus to supervise the
construction of the governor's residence, then working in another stone
quarry. At the beginning of August, he moves to Aden where he works for
Bardey & Co, an import/export company trading in coffee. After three months
he takes over a new agency of Bardey & Co in Harer, Abyssinia.
In May 1881, Rimbaud has to be treated for syphilis. Having recovered
he continues to work for Bardey & Co for the following ten years, traveling
the country, more and more speaking fluent Arabic and becoming familiar
with the Koran. He plans to expand, to go on expeditions, to write a book
about Harer, orders a camera and develops an interest in technology.
Yet in spite of his busy life, he often feels discontent and unhappy.
On May 6, 1883, Rimbaud writes in a letter to his family:
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"(...) I regret not being married, not having a family.
But now I am condemned to wander, attached to a faraway company, and every
day I lose the taste for the climate and the manners of living, and even
the language of Europe.
Alas! What is the use of these comings and goings, and this tiredness
and these adventures...?"
In February 1884, Bardey & Co goes bankrupt and Rimbaud has to close his
Harer agency.
He returns to Aden in April and lives there with an Abyssinian girl for
the next two years.
Rise And Demise
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From October 1885 to July 1887 Rimbaud deals in weapons,
delivering guns to King Menilek of Shewa who is waging war against the
emperor of Abyssinia. As his business partner Pierre Labatut dies of cancer
and his other partner Paul Soleillet short after suffers a deadly stroke,
Rimbaud's plans fail; moreover, he is obliged to cover Labatut's debts.
During this time Verlaine publishes The Accursed Poets, including
a chapter about Rimbaud, and at the beginning of summer 1886, Rimbaud's
Illuminations are published in Vogue. Thus, Rimbaud becomes
well known in Paris again while he's on vacation in Cairo with his young
servant Djami Wadaï, returning to Aden on October 8.
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In March 1888 Rimbaud and César Tian, a trader from Aden,
open a new trade agency in Harer, selling hardware. Rimbaud's best friend
during that time is the Swiss engineer Alfred Ilg, who later becomes King
Menilek's prime minister.
Most people around him describe Rimbaud as a taciturn, withdrawn man with
a dry sense of humor and an unsteady temper, leading a very unassuming,
almost ascetic life and helping the poor, yet also often seeming rather
unhappy and discontent.
In France, more of Rimbaud's poems are being published and his popularity
steadily increases. Arthur learns about this development through a letter
from his former classmate Paul Bourde.
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In February 1891, Rimbaud checks into the European Hospital
in Aden due to intense pain in his right knee. He is diagnosed with an
advanced stage of synovitis, already developing into a cancerous tumor.
Learning that amputation is inevitable to save his life, Arthur liquidates
his business and on May 9 takes the boat to France.
On May 27 his right leg is being removed at the Conception
Hospital in Marseilles. His mother visits him but leaves again so soon
that Arthur is deeply shocked and is said to have never forgiven her.
He walks with crutches for a while, then gets a wooden leg.
Walking having been a pivotal part of his life, his depression and despair
are boundless; especially since he views his amputation as the major obstacle
which is to prevent him from pursuing the plans he had for the future.
In a letter to his sister Isabelle he writes:
"(...) What a nuisance, what a fatigue what a sadness when I think
about all my ancient travels, and how active I was just 5 months ago!
Where are the runnings across mountains, the cavalcades, the walks, the
deserts, the rivers and the seas? (...) And to think I precisely had decided
to come back to France this summer to get married! Goodbye wedding, goodbye
family, goodbye future! My life is gone, I'm no more than an immobile
trunk (...)"
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On July 23, he travels to Roche where Isabelle is taking
care of him for a month. Then they return back to Marseilles where Arthur
hopes to receive better treatment of his worsening condition. Back in
hospital, the doctors diagnose him with a terminal stage of cancer. Rimbaud
starts to become more and more delirious. He wishes to go back to Harer
to see his servant Djami.
Arthur Rimbaud dies on November 10, 1891 at age 37. He is buried in Charleville.
Arthur Rimbaud: The Legacy
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Feeling the need to restore the reputation of her brother,
Isabelle spreads that he died like "a good Christian". According to Rimbaud's
last will, she intends to pay his legacy of 750 thalaris to Djami, but
as it shows that Djami has passed away, too, the money goes to his heirs.
Isabelle's husband, the artist Paterne Berrichon (pseudonym of Pierre-Eugène
Dufour), who is a great admirer of Rimbaud, helps her to publish Arthur's
work and letters.
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Arthur Rimbaud's style has influenced a large number of
artists throughout the times and still continues to do so over a century
after his death.
His work has not only inspired literature movements, such as the Beats;
musicians and songwriters like Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison and Patti Smith
have named Arthur Rimbaud and his poetry as an inspiration for their own
works.
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