Correspondance, 1888-1891

This French volume gathers letters written in the last years of Rimbaud's life, when he was living far from literature as a trader in Harar, in what is now Ethiopia. The letters, sent to family and business contacts, deal with money, goods, travel, health and his plans, and they show a practical and often weary man. There is little talk of poetry, which is itself revealing. Together they give a plain and sometimes moving picture of his final period, and they help readers understand the life that followed his short literary career.