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Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet
"The poet makes himself into a visionary by a long derangement of all the senses."—Rimbaud In 1968 Jim Morrison, founder and lead singer of the rock band the Doors, wrote to Wallace Fowlie, a scholar of French literature and a professor at Duke University. Morrison thanked Fowlie for producing an English translation of the complete poems of Rimbaud. He needed the translation, he said, because, "I don’t read French that easily. . . . I am a rock singer and your book travels around with me." Fourteen years later, when Fowlie first heard the music of the Doors, he recognized the influence of Rimbaud in Morrison’s lyrics.
In Rimbaud and Jim Morrison Fowlie, a master of the form of the memoir, reconstructs the lives of the two youthful poets from a personal perspective. In their twinned stories he discovers an uncanny symmetry, a pattern far richer than the simple truth that both led lives full of adventure and both made poetry of their thirst for the liberation of the self. The result is an engaging account of the connections between an exceptional French symbolist who gave up writing poetry at the age of twenty, died young, and whose poems are still avidly read to this day, and an American rock musician whose brief career ignited an entire generation and has continued to fascinate millions around the world in the twenty years since his death in Paris. In this dual portrait, Fowlie gives us a glimpse of the affinities and resemblances between European literary traditions and American rock music and youth culture in the late twentieth century.
A personal meditation on two unusual, yet emblematic, cultural figures, this book also stands as a summary of a noted scholar’s lifelong reflections on creative artists.
In Rimbaud and Jim Morrison Fowlie, a master of the form of the memoir, reconstructs the lives of the two youthful poets from a personal perspective. In their twinned stories he discovers an uncanny symmetry, a pattern far richer than the simple truth that both led lives full of adventure and both made poetry of their thirst for the liberation of the self. The result is an engaging account of the connections between an exceptional French symbolist who gave up writing poetry at the age of twenty, died young, and whose poems are still avidly read to this day, and an American rock musician whose brief career ignited an entire generation and has continued to fascinate millions around the world in the twenty years since his death in Paris. In this dual portrait, Fowlie gives us a glimpse of the affinities and resemblances between European literary traditions and American rock music and youth culture in the late twentieth century.
A personal meditation on two unusual, yet emblematic, cultural figures, this book also stands as a summary of a noted scholar’s lifelong reflections on creative artists.
144 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
May 18, 2009
Great On Rimbaud, Not so Good On Morrison
Wallace Fowlie was a professor of French Literature at Duke University when he received a letter from Jim Morrison thanking him for writing a translation of French Symbolist Poet Arthur Rimbaud’s poems. Fowlie, not knowing who Jim Morrison was filed the letter away with other correspondence. In 1980 a student of Fowlie’s gave him a copy of the Morrison biography, No One Here Gets Out Alive, he made the connection with the letter he received 12 years before. He read the bio, and noticed all the references in it to Rimbaud and like many aging teachers trying to connect to students who might otherwise find the subject of French poetry dry or irrelevant, he started lecturing about Jim Morrison and his Rimbaud connection, and after a decade of expanding the lecture he committed it to a book, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet.
As a professor of French Literature it is to be expected that Fowlie would be more knowledgeable about the life and work of Rimbaud, and indeed he is, he writes an informed and interesting biography of Rimbaud, tracing his birth and upbringing in rural France whose military father was frequently away, and whose adventures Rimbaud fantasized about. And a domineering mother whom Rimbaud sought to escape. Rimbaud’s early success’ in academics and interest in wanting to be a poet aided in his running away to Paris and London in pursuit of his dreams, and Fowlie offers an in depth analysis of the poetry Rimbaud created between the ages of 16-19.
The shortcomings of this book become evident when Fowlie focuses on Morrison, his life, and his poetry. Fowlie gets facts of Morrison’s life wrong, and doesn’t offer much into any insight or meaningful analysis of Morrison’s poetry. Reading the sections on Morrison’s poetry you feel shortchanged at the ephemeral nature of the analysis. You almost can’t blame Fowlie for this, he was already in his 60’s when Morrison wrote to him, he was in his 70’s when he started the lectures that would become the book, so you can hardly blame Fowlie for not being that interested or knowledgeable about Morrison. Fowlie readily admits that during his lectures students frequently added to his knowledge about Morrison. And, of course, the genesis of the lecture was to get his students interested in Rimbaud’s work via Morrison, but when you write a book with dual subjects you have a duty to give equal consideration to both subjects.
This book is for The Doors fan who knows The Doors and Jim Morrison’s story well, and is intrigued by Rimbaud and his poetry and would like to dive into the deeper waters of what Morrison called “pure poetry,” but would still like The Doors/Morrison connection available.
Wallace Fowlie was a professor of French Literature at Duke University when he received a letter from Jim Morrison thanking him for writing a translation of French Symbolist Poet Arthur Rimbaud’s poems. Fowlie, not knowing who Jim Morrison was filed the letter away with other correspondence. In 1980 a student of Fowlie’s gave him a copy of the Morrison biography, No One Here Gets Out Alive, he made the connection with the letter he received 12 years before. He read the bio, and noticed all the references in it to Rimbaud and like many aging teachers trying to connect to students who might otherwise find the subject of French poetry dry or irrelevant, he started lecturing about Jim Morrison and his Rimbaud connection, and after a decade of expanding the lecture he committed it to a book, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet.
As a professor of French Literature it is to be expected that Fowlie would be more knowledgeable about the life and work of Rimbaud, and indeed he is, he writes an informed and interesting biography of Rimbaud, tracing his birth and upbringing in rural France whose military father was frequently away, and whose adventures Rimbaud fantasized about. And a domineering mother whom Rimbaud sought to escape. Rimbaud’s early success’ in academics and interest in wanting to be a poet aided in his running away to Paris and London in pursuit of his dreams, and Fowlie offers an in depth analysis of the poetry Rimbaud created between the ages of 16-19.
The shortcomings of this book become evident when Fowlie focuses on Morrison, his life, and his poetry. Fowlie gets facts of Morrison’s life wrong, and doesn’t offer much into any insight or meaningful analysis of Morrison’s poetry. Reading the sections on Morrison’s poetry you feel shortchanged at the ephemeral nature of the analysis. You almost can’t blame Fowlie for this, he was already in his 60’s when Morrison wrote to him, he was in his 70’s when he started the lectures that would become the book, so you can hardly blame Fowlie for not being that interested or knowledgeable about Morrison. Fowlie readily admits that during his lectures students frequently added to his knowledge about Morrison. And, of course, the genesis of the lecture was to get his students interested in Rimbaud’s work via Morrison, but when you write a book with dual subjects you have a duty to give equal consideration to both subjects.
This book is for The Doors fan who knows The Doors and Jim Morrison’s story well, and is intrigued by Rimbaud and his poetry and would like to dive into the deeper waters of what Morrison called “pure poetry,” but would still like The Doors/Morrison connection available.
July 10, 2016
Illuminating on Rimbaud, superficial on Morrison.
April 19, 2020
An exciting exploration of two similarly fearlessly free and limitless artists.
Though I feel like it could have gone just a little deeper ( on Morrison ), I am just happy this book exists! I especially liked this selection from page 55 referring to his autobiography, Une Saison en enfer
'Rimbaud's drama of rebellion is expressed in the second sentence:
"One evening I pulled Beauty down on my knees. I found her embittered and I cursed her."
This would seem to record in the boy that a mysterious aberration has set him off from society and armed him against ordinary justice. This would not be sexual. A sense of being "different" automatically turns a boy into a victim, and this character of the victim is the first mask of the poet. He is the hyena, the animal of the night to be tracked down. Rimbaud's wild beast recalls Vigny's wolf, Musset's pelican, Gautier's hippopotamus, Baudelaire's albatross. They are all names for the artist, the sacrificial scapegoat.
One further element completes the prelude. The poet's flight from the conventional world into the dark world of himself is not so much a flight as a search. In every dream of his subconscious, Rimbaud is going to seek and track down his innocence. He calls it first his "treasure", which has to be sheltered in witchcraft (poetry), in poverty (exile), and in hate (revolt). This search for the original purity is the key to Une Saison. '
From page 102, concerning the connection of their poetry:
'He had taught a generation of fans that poems and songs survive the death of civilization. This belief coincides with the strongest doctrines about the power of poetry in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.'
Also, I liked toward the end of the book , Fowlie compares/analyzes the two rebels' lyrics and poetry side by side. Great book for the collection of any Rimbaud or Morrison fan.
Though I feel like it could have gone just a little deeper ( on Morrison ), I am just happy this book exists! I especially liked this selection from page 55 referring to his autobiography, Une Saison en enfer
'Rimbaud's drama of rebellion is expressed in the second sentence:
"One evening I pulled Beauty down on my knees. I found her embittered and I cursed her."
This would seem to record in the boy that a mysterious aberration has set him off from society and armed him against ordinary justice. This would not be sexual. A sense of being "different" automatically turns a boy into a victim, and this character of the victim is the first mask of the poet. He is the hyena, the animal of the night to be tracked down. Rimbaud's wild beast recalls Vigny's wolf, Musset's pelican, Gautier's hippopotamus, Baudelaire's albatross. They are all names for the artist, the sacrificial scapegoat.
One further element completes the prelude. The poet's flight from the conventional world into the dark world of himself is not so much a flight as a search. In every dream of his subconscious, Rimbaud is going to seek and track down his innocence. He calls it first his "treasure", which has to be sheltered in witchcraft (poetry), in poverty (exile), and in hate (revolt). This search for the original purity is the key to Une Saison. '
From page 102, concerning the connection of their poetry:
'He had taught a generation of fans that poems and songs survive the death of civilization. This belief coincides with the strongest doctrines about the power of poetry in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.'
Also, I liked toward the end of the book , Fowlie compares/analyzes the two rebels' lyrics and poetry side by side. Great book for the collection of any Rimbaud or Morrison fan.
March 15, 2008
Fun if you're a Doors geek, like me, but not really worth much in terms of literary analysis.
September 3, 2008
A fascinating and insightful comparison
September 9, 2025
Great on Rimbaud, but not so much so on Morrison. I guess the writer should have learned more on Jim to write a book with such a deceiving title.
Read
December 8, 2009this is a very interesting book espically if your a doors fan. I think Jim Morrision would aprove it because he wanted to be known as a poet not a rock star. Wallace Fowlie was a teacher at Duke university and Jim Morrison asked for a French translation for a poem by Rimbaud, years later he was introduced to Morrison's biography once he read it he made the connection that Rimbaud influenced Jim. Fowlie then travled the country giving a speech on Rimbaud and Morrison, which was brilliant because what teenager doesn't like the doors? lure them in with Morrision then intoduce them to Rimbaud... genius! walk away from that lecture with better knowledge of these two great poets. And that is exactly what happend when i first picked this book. ah, cool Jim Morrison. Whos this Rimbaud guy? i recomend this book to any one who likes the doors and or poetry
September 30, 2012
Next to Edgar Allen Poe, Jim Morrison was the favored poet of my youth. I still think he's underrated by the academics, and this book tries to legitimize him in the eyes of those who think Rimabaud is the be all and end all of tragic rebellious poetry. It's an interesting read, but pretty dry, since it's based on lectures by an older professor who came to Morrison's Hotel late in life. Non essential. By the way, poetry needs to be heard, not just read. "All hail the American Night."
June 30, 2013
A pretty interesting essay on poetry and rebellion. I figure it’s a bit lost on me, I have very little knowledge of poetry, Rimbaud, or the Doors, still a fascinating read. The parallel can seem unlikely at first, but is undeniable once you look into it, and the book has definitely made me want to read more poetry (Rimbaud’s and other’s) and really listen to the Doors.
December 11, 2017
Ne avevo sempre sentito parlare, purtroppo non lo stampano più ma l'ho trovato in una biblioteca. In realtà, più che paragonati ed analizzati nelle loro similitudini, Rimbaud e Morrison vengono solo affiancati. Del primo, Fowlie era un profondo conoscitore, del secondo (ossia Jim) ... beh, diciamo che si era informato dopo averlo scoperto grazie ad alcuni suoi studenti ..
September 17, 2015
I LOVED this book. I read it while living in Paris for a year, mooning over Arthur Rimbaud, reading everything I could find on him. I stumbled on this book in the American Library and devoured it. Wallace Fowlie did a magnificent job of connecting the dots, capturing the essence of both men and why they still fascinate us. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED.
January 3, 2020
One of my favorite books ever! It's a little dry because of the lecture-to-book type format but the information is so rich & juicy about both of their lives & what they shared in common that it's worth it...A phenomenal text for anyone interested in both of these guys, a good text for anyone interested in one of them though you might wish to skip a few pages in that case
January 11, 2019
I thought I had read every book on the greatest American rock band of all time, the Doors. I came across this in a small used bookstore in a tiny college town, and was immensely surprised. It is an academics approach on the music, poetry and influence of the Doors and Rimbaud. The author gets a bit of the bands timeline wrong, but it is a wonderful read. I highly recommend.
Read
February 15, 2009Like many people, in my late teens I went through a big Doors phase. I was also an avowed poetry fan by the time I was 16, so finding this book was a treat for me at the time. Nowadays, I'm not so intrigued by these guys. Rimbaud is interesting. Morrison annoys me.
April 6, 2021
I discovered Rimbaud thanks in part to Wallace Fowlie's magnificent bilingual translation of his works, so to have him reminisce about his encounters with Jim Morrison is pretty special. I used this text in a course I taught on 19th C Symbolist poetry, and the students greatly appreciated it.
February 3, 2008
Absolutely facinating.
September 25, 2010
excellent read
June 22, 2012
Awesome. I loved it.
June 2, 2021
From a letter to Bishop Seraphim Sigrist by T. Byron Kelly ; I think what Prof. Fowlie was trying to convey was that Morrison (like Rimbaud) was a kind of prodigy for his generation poetically. Both Poets left an astonishing array of poetry in a short period of time. Jim Morrison has two books of his poetry published by his estate and one by himself. The poems are often otherworldly, transcendent and convey a deep longing and mystery that real poetry should. You can find Wilderness and The American Night @ https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Writings-... https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Writings-... & The Lords & The New Creatures @ https://www.amazon.com/Lords-New-Crea...
November 25, 2025
Illuminating on Rimbaud but scratches the surface with Morrison — I think Morrison was inspired by Rimbaud to the same degree many poets / lyricists were inspired by him throughout the 20th century, however I did enjoy the references to Artaud and his work ‘the theatre and its double’ which Morrison potentially looked toward for his more subversive stage antics.
May 23, 2018
For a short read it wasn't bad on the Morrison info. I can't speak to the Rimbaud info though.
June 25, 2019
Interesting comparison between two poets. Would have liked to see more poetry analysis and examples of the artist's work to add depth to the read.
January 5, 2022
Good comparisons between the two. Am curious to read Morrison’s own poetry as well as Rimbaud’s.
September 18, 2025
I didn't find this very insightful.
October 20, 2025
Rimbaud walked away in his prime, Jim Morrison arguably died in his prime. I guess whatever you do, do it in your prime.
April 8, 2018
I expected more but I am not quite sure what... I think it simply took me far too many years to finally purchase this book and the expectations kept growing and growing.
I got impressed by this book in the sense that the author has a deep knowledge of Rimbaud and is trying to get to know Jim Morrison and Rimbaud' influence on his writing and on a decade in America. I loved all the book and film references, I am going to check them all.
I got impressed by this book in the sense that the author has a deep knowledge of Rimbaud and is trying to get to know Jim Morrison and Rimbaud' influence on his writing and on a decade in America. I loved all the book and film references, I am going to check them all.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews