14 November 2011

Paul Verlaine and André Breton in Batignolles Cemetery / Cimetière des Batignolles, Hauts-de-Seine (92), France: Literary Île-de-France #22

In this rather obscure cemetery two noted writers are buried.

Paul Verlaine (1844­—96) was born in Metz and is unfortunately without doubt best known for his relationship with Arthur Rimbaud (1854­—91), for whom he left his wife and whose wrist he famously shot during an argument in 1873.

Some years after Rimbaud disappeared (in the literal English sense rather than the euphemistic French sense), he was seen as a precursor of both Symbolists and Decadents.

Although famous as a significant poet in his last ten years of life, those years were marked by terms in hospital: he suffered from diabetes, alcoholism, and syphilitic ulcers.

Once very close to the Périphérique, Verlaine's tomb was in 1989 moved to a more peaceful spot in the cemetery.

André Breton (1896—1966), as the founder and head theorist of the Surrealist movement, is remembered for the first manifesto (1922), but also the imaginative works Nadja (1928) and L'Amour fou (1937).


'JE CHERCHE L'OR DU TEMPS'

I'm ignorant of the significance of this object.

A calling card from Los Angeles.

My Paul Verlaine posts:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Paul Verlaine in Batignolles Cemetery
Rimbaud and Verlaine in Camden Town
Paul Verlaine in Coulommes, Ardennes
Paul Verlaine in Juniville, Ardennes

No comments: