Arthur Rimbaud: Presence of an Enigma

In the foreword to his new biography of poet-adventurer Rimbaud, Steinmetz, who edited the 1989 Editions Flammarion Complete Works of Rimbaud, asserts that, as a narrator, he will allow Rimbaud's actions to give birth to their own significance, rather than overburden them with qualification. In practice, Steinmetz has as much difficulty refraining from laudatory remarks as a sportscaster. At a certain point in the development of his poetic style, Rimbaud quits the use of references to the Parisian Commune, which had saturated much of his previous work; according to Steinmetz, he is suddenly ""on the same wavelength as eternity."" The poet's constant irritation with his family is always considered just; his lack of sympathy for his lover, Paul Verlaine, is seen as the rightful rejection of a pathetic companion. Steinmetz allows as little interpretive leeway as conceivable in recounting a life that seethes with contradiction, spontaneity and violent longing. To his credit, Steinmetz is able to communicate the alternating spasms of self-love and self-loathing that seem to have animated Rimbaud's existence and driven him to devour, then abandon, creative media from poetry, to carnal desire, to compulsive travel. Yet, for all Steinmetz's enthusiasm, the real Rimbaud remains, as the biographer himself repeatedly asserts, ""someone who cannot be found."" These pages constitute a vivid retelling of the Rimbaud legend; but Rimbaud the human being, almost completely obscured by that legend, continues to evade definition. (Mar.) Forecast: Graham Robb's ""robust"" but equally mythologizing Rimbaud came out last October. Steinmetz, however, does a better job of communicating the sense of an erratic but exciting mind at work. This should appeal to readers of poetry and French literature.