Verlaine and Rimbaud: Poets from hell
The London home of Verlaine and Rimbaud, the enfants terribles of French poetry, is up for sale. A landmark of literary hedonism may be lost, says Christina Patterson
Published: 08 February 2006
He lived in a squalid loft in a seedy part of town. He was often drunk, drugged and violent. He abused his friends, but relied on them to bail him out. Baby-faced and fiercely talented, this lyricist of love and death had a cult following and an angelic smile. "I know these passions and disasters too well," wrote Arthur Rimbaud in 1873, "the rages, the debauches, the madness."
When he wrote those words, the great French poet was living in a house in Camden Town. The terraced house is still there, though in a dilapidated state and in an area that can only be described as bleak. Beside the front door there is a simple plaque: "The French poets Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud lived here May-July 1873". The words can't begin to do justice to the slice of turbulent history that lies behind those walls. Since the house is currently on the market, it is a history that is in danger of being lost.
link to article
For details of the campaign to save 8 Royal College Street, contact gerry.harrison@ camden.gov.uk
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2 comments:
i went back and read my cut and paste to make sure it posted okay. they only lived there 2 months.
does that qualify as someone's home? that's more like a long stay at a travel lodge. :D
Anne, if the plaque is round, and Wedgewood-blue, it's guaranteed to be saved ... the plaque must remain, and be posted where it will be seen by passersby, even after the property is purchased. The house itself may be razed, but the site will still be acknowledged ... cold comfort, I know.
God bless, Christine in Los Angeles
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