Oeuvres completes. Tome IV: Fac-similes (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Œuvres complètes, Tome iv: Fac-similés Seth Whidden Rimbaud, Arthur. Œuvres complètes, Tome iv: Fac-similés. Steve Murphy, ed. Paris: Champion, 2002. Pp. 704. isbn 2745307525 Despite Steve Murphy's best efforts in this volume - highly commendable efforts, to be sure, and better than everyone else's - these Œuvres complètes are not complete, as their title would have us believe. And, as he explains in the comprehensive 93-page "Introduction" (a study so much more than its modest title suggests) that opens this volume, they can't be, despite the best wishes and years of detective work that this work represents. As in his excellent first volume of this project (reviewed in ncfs 29.1–2 [Fall-Winter 2000–01]: 173–76), Murphy's knowledge of all matters Rimbaud is matched only by the meticulous organizational skills that accompany his work, as evidenced here in his introduction (divided into eight sections, each with as many as three subsections). This undertaking is personal, to be sure, well beyond the typical task of historian or literary scholar, as is the plea at the end of the introduction for any information concerning the remaining manuscripts whose whereabouts are still unknown. In his attempts to fill in the numerous lacunae of reproductions of Rimbaud's manuscripts, Murphy has brought to this edition several new gems, including transcriptions in Verlaine's and Germain Nouveau's hands, as well as the poems from the recueil Demeny (193–292, notes 516–26), currently held in the British Library. Many of the photographs in this volume are the first taken since Paterne Berrichon's ill-fated attempt at establishing a chronology of the earlier poems in his edition of Rimbaud's Poésies (Paris: Messein, 1919). Murphy's work is tremendous, and it is far superior to all earlier attempts in this vein. Claude Jeancolas's L'Œuvre intégrale manuscrite (Paris: Textuel, 1996) and Les [End Page 216] Lettres manuscrites de Rimbaud d'Europe, d'Afrique et d'Arabie (Textuel, 1997) are handsome enough, but their copies betray many important physical details of the original manuscripts and their supporting documentation is thin. André Guyaux's "Facsimilés des manuscrits des Illuminations ," 255–90 of Poétique du fragment: Essai sur les Illuminations de Rimbaud (Neuchâtel: A la Baconnière, 1985), are more successful, but they rely heavily on earlier copies and obviously represent just one phase of Rimbaud's poetic production. In the present volume, Murphy brings his flawless scholarship to bear on absolutely all Rimbaud manuscripts - letters and poems - that are known today. And yet, with its very publication, this edition - like any other text, for that matter - runs the risk of being outdated (such is the case of the now invalid email address that appears in Murphy's request for further information at the end of the introduction [110; the updated address is steve.murphy@free.fr]). As luck would have it, several manuscripts that were previously unknown to scholars came to light just after Murphy's edition went to press, most notably at the recent exhibit of the collection of Pierre Berès (Musée Condé, Château de Chantilly, 10 Dec. 2003–8 March 2004). Notable in part since there had been practically no access to the Berès collection since Henry de Bouillane de Lacoste's 1949 Rimbaud et le problème des Illuminations (Paris: Mercure de France), the exhibit catalog includes reproductions of the manuscripts of "Génie," "Soir historique" and "Patience" (a second version of "Bannières de mai"). "Génie" and "Soir historique" were, with "Dévotion" and "Démocratie" (these last two seem to have disappeared completely), two of the manuscripts that remained completely inaccessible to almost all scholars. Besides this minor flaw - which will no doubt be addressed in the subsequent volumes of this set, and which is certainly not Murphy's fault in any way - the one major question raised by this volume is editorial: namely, what is the utility of publishing, on pages that are significantly smaller than full scale, nearly 400 pages of facsimiles? Unlike the meticulously typeset versions in Murphy's Vol. i: Poésies...