‘I is somebody else’
Bob Dylan/Arthur Rimbaud
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v8i2.169Keywords:
John Ashbery, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, indeterminacy, Marjorie Perloff, Arthur RimbaudAbstract
This article examines Dylan’s relations with Arthur Rimbaud and with avant-garde poets contemporary to Dylan through the influence of Rimbaud. It will relate Dylan’s ‘indeterminacy’ to an indeterminacy that Marjorie Perloff locates in a twentieth century avant-garde poetics whose key influence is Rimbaud. The article also argues for an engagement with the myth of Rimbaud as an invigorating and vital component of Rimbaud’s influence on both Dylan and Ginsberg, far from the superficial engagement Perloff and most Rimbaud critics see it to be.
References
Ashbery, J. 1977. ‘The Other Tradition’. In Houseboat Days, 2–3. London: Penguin.
Barnes, H. E. 1974. Meddling Gods: Four Essays on Classical Theme. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Brown, R. 2003. ‘Highway 61 and Other American States of Mind’. In ‘Do You Mr Jones?’: Bob Dylan with the Poets and Professors, ed. Neil Corcoran. London: Chatto & Windus.
Costello, B. 1983. ‘The Other Tradition’. Contemporary Literature 24/1 (Spring): 97–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1208073
Corcoran, N. 2003. ‘Preface’. In ‘Do You, Mr Jones?’: Bob Dylan with the Poets and Professors, ed. N. Corcoran, 1–6. London: Chatto & Windus.
Dylan, B. 1971. Tarantula. New York: Macmillan.
—2004a. Lyrics 1962–2001. London: Simon & Schuster.
—2004b. Chronicles. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Étiemble, R. 1954. Le mythe de Rimbaud: genèse du mythe (1869–1949). Paris: Gallimard.
Fitzgerald, A. 2011. ‘A Refutation of Common Sense, An Interview with John Ashbery’. Boston Review 36/2 (April), http://www.bostonreview.net/NPM/adam_fitzgerald_john_ashbery.php (accessed 4 February 2013).
Fowlie, W. 1993. Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press.
Ginsberg, A. 1961. Kaddish and Other Poems 1958–1960. San Francisco: City Lights.
—1974. Allen Verbatim: Lectures on Poetry, Politics, Consciousness, ed. G. Ball. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
—2009. Collected Poems 1947–1997. London: Penguin.
Heylin, C. 2010. Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan Vol. 1: 1957–73. London: Constable & Robinson.
—2011. Behind the Shades: The 20th Anniversary Edition. London: Faber and Faber.
Houston, J. P. 1963. The Design of Rimbaud’s Poetry. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Karlin, D. 2003. ‘Bob Dylan’s Names’. In ‘Do You, Mr Jones?’: Bob Dylan with the Poets and Professors, ed. N Corcoran, 27–50. London: Chatto & Windus.
Lee, C. P. 2001. ‘Walking Like Rimbaud’. In Isis: The Bob Dylan Anthology, ed. Derek Barker, 75–76. London: Helter Skelter.
McCurdy, E. 2011. Thoughts After Sixty. New York. Ed McCurdy.
Miller, H. 1962. The Time of the Assassins. Norfolk, CN: New Directions.
Noland, C. J. 1995. ‘Rimbaud and Patti Smith: Style as Social Deviance’. Critical Inquiry 21, no. 3 (Spring): 581–610. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/448765
Perloff, M. 1990. Poetic License: Essays on Modernist and Postmodernist Lyric. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
—1999 (1981). The Poetics of Indeterminacy: Rimbaud to Cage. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Rimbaud, A. 1945. A Season In Hell. Bilingual edition, trans. L. Varèse. Norfolk, CN: New Directions.
—1992. Œuvres complètes: Correspondance, ed. L. Forestier. Paris: Robert Laffont.
—2008. Complete Works, trans. P. Schmitt. London: Harper Collins.
—2011. Illuminations, trans. J. Ashbery. Manchester: Carcanet Press.
Smith, P. 2011. Just Kids. London: Bloomsbury.
Spitzer, M. 2003. ‘Bob Dylan’s Tarantula: An Arctic Reserve of Untapped Glimmerance Dismissed in a Ratland of Clichés’. JACK Magazine 2, no. 3 (Fall), http://www.jackmagazine.com/issue7/essaysmspitzer.html (accessed 4 February 2013).
Barnes, H. E. 1974. Meddling Gods: Four Essays on Classical Theme. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Brown, R. 2003. ‘Highway 61 and Other American States of Mind’. In ‘Do You Mr Jones?’: Bob Dylan with the Poets and Professors, ed. Neil Corcoran. London: Chatto & Windus.
Costello, B. 1983. ‘The Other Tradition’. Contemporary Literature 24/1 (Spring): 97–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1208073
Corcoran, N. 2003. ‘Preface’. In ‘Do You, Mr Jones?’: Bob Dylan with the Poets and Professors, ed. N. Corcoran, 1–6. London: Chatto & Windus.
Dylan, B. 1971. Tarantula. New York: Macmillan.
—2004a. Lyrics 1962–2001. London: Simon & Schuster.
—2004b. Chronicles. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Étiemble, R. 1954. Le mythe de Rimbaud: genèse du mythe (1869–1949). Paris: Gallimard.
Fitzgerald, A. 2011. ‘A Refutation of Common Sense, An Interview with John Ashbery’. Boston Review 36/2 (April), http://www.bostonreview.net/NPM/adam_fitzgerald_john_ashbery.php (accessed 4 February 2013).
Fowlie, W. 1993. Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press.
Ginsberg, A. 1961. Kaddish and Other Poems 1958–1960. San Francisco: City Lights.
—1974. Allen Verbatim: Lectures on Poetry, Politics, Consciousness, ed. G. Ball. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
—2009. Collected Poems 1947–1997. London: Penguin.
Heylin, C. 2010. Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan Vol. 1: 1957–73. London: Constable & Robinson.
—2011. Behind the Shades: The 20th Anniversary Edition. London: Faber and Faber.
Houston, J. P. 1963. The Design of Rimbaud’s Poetry. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Karlin, D. 2003. ‘Bob Dylan’s Names’. In ‘Do You, Mr Jones?’: Bob Dylan with the Poets and Professors, ed. N Corcoran, 27–50. London: Chatto & Windus.
Lee, C. P. 2001. ‘Walking Like Rimbaud’. In Isis: The Bob Dylan Anthology, ed. Derek Barker, 75–76. London: Helter Skelter.
McCurdy, E. 2011. Thoughts After Sixty. New York. Ed McCurdy.
Miller, H. 1962. The Time of the Assassins. Norfolk, CN: New Directions.
Noland, C. J. 1995. ‘Rimbaud and Patti Smith: Style as Social Deviance’. Critical Inquiry 21, no. 3 (Spring): 581–610. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/448765
Perloff, M. 1990. Poetic License: Essays on Modernist and Postmodernist Lyric. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
—1999 (1981). The Poetics of Indeterminacy: Rimbaud to Cage. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Rimbaud, A. 1945. A Season In Hell. Bilingual edition, trans. L. Varèse. Norfolk, CN: New Directions.
—1992. Œuvres complètes: Correspondance, ed. L. Forestier. Paris: Robert Laffont.
—2008. Complete Works, trans. P. Schmitt. London: Harper Collins.
—2011. Illuminations, trans. J. Ashbery. Manchester: Carcanet Press.
Smith, P. 2011. Just Kids. London: Bloomsbury.
Spitzer, M. 2003. ‘Bob Dylan’s Tarantula: An Arctic Reserve of Untapped Glimmerance Dismissed in a Ratland of Clichés’. JACK Magazine 2, no. 3 (Fall), http://www.jackmagazine.com/issue7/essaysmspitzer.html (accessed 4 February 2013).
Published
2014-05-20
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Peddie, K. (2014). ‘I is somebody else’: Bob Dylan/Arthur Rimbaud. Popular Music History, 8(2), 169-188. https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v8i2.169
