Steve Murphy (review)

Abstract

MLR, 96. , 200I Arthur Rimbaud. (Euvres completesi: Poesies. Ed. by STEVEMURPHY. (Textes de litteraturemoderne et contemporaine, 36) Paris:Champion. 1999. 944 PP. 580 F. Steve Murphy, who has worked so impressively in Rimbaldian studies in recent years, here adds another highly significant contribution to the field. In this meticulouslycompiled and strikinglycomprehensiveedition of Rimbaud'sverse, he has produced a volume that should stand as theworkof referencefor all scholarsin this area for many years to come. This study, beautifullyproduced by Champion, will surely supplant all existing editions, such as Antoine Adam's 1972 Pleiade volume, Suzanne Bernard's and Andre Guyaux's editions for Garnier,Jean-Luc Steinmetz's edition, and many others. As Murphy argues so persuasively, the structure of these various editions has impacted directly upon how we read Rimbaud's verse and he seeks to address anew and to problematize issues of chronology, dating, and the poet's evolution. Murphy'sworkwill attractrespectand admirationfor a varietyof reasons.In the first place, it is imposing in its scope and attention to detail: this is a veritable cornucopiaforthe Rimbaldian scholarin termsof dating,graphology,punctuation, accents, omissions, ambiguities, manuscript transmission, and so on. Secondly, Murphychallengesmany idees refues concerningthe orderof individualtextsand the composition of what have been loosely called recueils. Thirdly, and perhaps most significantlyof all, he has gone against the grain of the traditionaledition that has selected one version at the expense of others.Murphyrejectsthe iditionuniversionnelle in favourof an edition pluriversionnelle and this is the single most strikingfeatureof his volume. This approachpresentsthe readerwith all versionsof everypoem brought togetherin one studyfor the firsttime. While Murphy does not offer textual commentaries and interpretationsin the conventional way (and for that reason Bernard and Guyaux, if not Adam, will continue to occupy a prominent niche in Rimbaldian studies),he provides such a richnessof informationand insightsin other areasthat one is almost overwhelmed. It is impossible to imagine anyone workingwith total confidence on an individual verse poem by Rimbaud in future without referring to this Murphy volume. Certainly,and in line with his previousworkLePremier Rimbaud oul'apprentissage dela subversion (Lyon: Presses Universitaires de Lyon, I990), where he argued for an understanding of early verse poems in the context of Rimbaud's socio-political radicalism, Murphy makes a cogent case for renewed interest in the verse ('cette ceuvredesagregeieet diminuee') after a lengthy period in which the prose poetry UneSaisonenenfer and the Illuminations have dominated critical attention. Working againstthis 'devalorisation'of the verse, he arguesfor fresh criticalattention to the 'poemes zutiques' and asksus to reconsider traditional approaches to the Derniers vers. With each individual study of the poems, he shines a torch on matterssuch as spelling variations, accents, oddities of punctuation, variants, and questions of genesis in such a way as to show the richness of specificpoems in all their versions rather than succumbing to what he calls 'le fetichisme de la derniere version connue'. While this is not a volume that one would recommend to the undergraduate student or uninitiated reader embarking on Rimbaud for the first time, it is a treasuretrove for the Rimbaldian specialistin its masterlycommand of its subject and its obvious affection for the poems themselves. Complete with an excellent bibliography,useful appendices, and an outstandinglyhelpful index, this is a most satisfyingtome that leaves one impatient for the arrivalof the second volume. No I97 specialist can affordnot to have a copy of this superb work on the shelf, and one expects to be able to saythe same about its successor. UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER, JORDANSTOWN GERALD M. MACKLIN L'Envers du Thedtre: Dramaturgie duSilence del'dgeclassique a Maeterlinck. By ARNAUD RYKNER. Paris:Corti. I996. 364pp. 150F. Maurice Maeterlinck. ByARNAUD RYKNER. (Bibliographiedes EcrivainsFrancais,I4) Parisand Rome: Memini. 1998. 657 pp. 6 oF. This doctoralthesison theatreturnedinsideout provesto be a stimulatinginvitation to rethink the important balance of words and silence in the French dramatic tradition, one much given to verbalism. Arnaud Rykner, readily acknowledging and appreciatingthe pioneer work in this field by May Daniels, Leslie Kane, and PeterSzondi, examines the function of silence as a meaningfulelement in dramatic technique in its own rightwith its own qualitiesof expressivity.He foregroundsits importance historically and traces its emergence as an essential feature in much modern theatre,comprehensivelymapping out the growingawarenessof the power of the...