Sylvain Tesson: A «rainy» summer with Rimbaud

Tuesday books - Aude Robert-Tissot

A summer with Rimbaud is a book of movement and poetry, it's the work and life of Rimbaud, but above all it's Tesson. For this adventurer, travel is always an excellent pretext for writing. And it's even better when he follows in the footsteps of one of the greatest poets of the French language! En route.

Wandering through our region during the month of December—whether in our movie theaters with the release of the film based on his second-to-last book The snow leopard, directed by Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier, or on stage as a speaker at Nuithonie in Villars-sur-Glâne, Sylvain Tesson isn’t just found in bookstores. Since he speaks as well as he writes, when you listen to him, you’re left with just one desire: to dive back into one of his books. And that’s exactly what I did as soon as I left his talk—with a signed copy under my arm—I rushed to buy his latest release, A spent the summer with Rimbaud, which happens to be a great choice for this chilly month of December.

Broadcast on France Inter during the summer of 2020, the book A summer with Rimbaud originally began as a TV series. Prior to this work, and as part of the same collection, Sylvain Tesson had journeyed alongside Ulysses in A summer with Homer. In contrast to the Greek heat that radiates from this war story, as we follow Rimbaud along the paths of his childhood in the Ardennes, the sun hides away, giving way to summer rain, full of beauty and melancholy.

Read also | Alain Blottière's Rimbaud punk

Sylvain Tesson revisits a classic author, a poet of genius. And yet, even if we are familiar with Rimbaud’s life—or at least his precocious talent for writing and the mysteries surrounding the “cursed poet” who vanished from the literary scene—Tesson’s interpretation is entirely different. An interpretation brimming with discoveries, far removed from speculative interpretations and clichés.

Tesson stands out not merely as Rimbaud’s traveling companion, but above all as a staunch defender of the poet. Not of the figure, who’While he openly declares himself to be a modern author known above all for the worst—no, the author frees Rimbaud from certain cages in which his fellow writers—men of letters—had confined him, all of whom tried to claim him for their own camp, from psychoanalysis all the way to communism—something the battered-faced adventurer does not do.

He simply follows him, exploring the poet’s central themes—such as boredom, movement, escape, and, above all, poetry. Tesson helps us (re)discover a few poems that strike a chord and move us deeply. The author sometimes gets lost in the digressions inherent to the flow of his thoughts, but the rhythm keeps us on the edge of our seats with short, lyrical sentences.

While this may not be Sylvain Tesson’s best book, his writing and his words are as moving and captivating as ever. It’s a book that lifts the spirit because it invites us on an adventure and into the world of poetry. In these times of a pandemic and stay-at-home orders, literature pulls us out of our comfort zone by painting a portrait of a poet, a fire-stealer.

«Rimbaud’s poetry unleashes bursts of fire. We will draw no lessons from it about life, death, love, or art. He paints images, throws out his visions—which are secrets known only to the initiated. It is violent, new, and unsurpassable. The Word is an enigma. One can only attempt to decipher its mysteries. The verses tear through the fog and reveal new spectacles. They are sublime. No explanations, no information.”.
Rimbaud never reaches his goal because he always goes beyond it. His life is not like an ancient river slowly cutting through the mountain.
»Rimbaud, a brutal course toward eternity."

Write to the author: [email protected]

Featured image: Claude Monet, A morning on the Seine, rainy weather, 73 x 91.5 cm, 1898, oil on canvas, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo

Sylvain Tesson
A Summer With Rimbaud
Editions des Equateurs
2021
217 pages

Order the book