The Day on Fire: A Novel Suggested by the Life of Arthur Rimbaud

by James Ramsey Ullman

By the age of fifteen, Arthur Rimbaud was already one of the most brilliant poets of his time. And for the next four years - and four only - Rimbaud (the Claude Morel of this book) was simultaneously a writer of genius, a visionary idealist, and a deliberate wallower in gutters of depravity perhaps unmatched in all of human experience. But at the age of nineteen, he was through forever with both writing and debauchery, and at this point, he all but vanished, spending most of his remaining years as a vagabond wanderer through Europe and Africa.

In the epic The Day on Fire (1958), a masterwork of biographical fiction, James Ramsey Ullman retraces the steps of Rimbaud's life from his rebellious youth in a dull provincial town to his teenage years as a homosexual, drunkard and drug addict in Paris, and his later years, wandering the desert in search of some elusive beauty or truth. As Ullman writes in his Foreword, “The truth, the inward core, of Rimbaud's life, is a truth for all times, as long as each of us, all of us, have our nights alone and our days on fire, our seasons in hell and our hope of heaven.”

REVIEWS

“It comes close to being the best book we've ever read.” - Victoria Advocate

“A literary masterpiece ... One of the most forceful novels of our decade.” - Montreal Gazette

“A haunting tale with an obsessive fascination.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Shocking ... Ullman has succeeded in making believable a life whose terms would be considered absolutely unbelievable if we did not know that they were true.” - Chicago Tribune

“Engrossing ... a tragic life dramatically, poetically and compellingly visualized.” - Booklist

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels, France

664 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1958

About the author

James Ramsey Ullman (1907–1971) was an American writer and mountaineer. He was born in New York. He was not a high end climber, but his writing made him an honorary member of that circle. Some of his writing is noted for being "nationalistic," e.g., The White Tower.

The books he wrote were mostly about mountaineering.

His works include Banner in the Sky (which was filmed in Switzerland as Third Man on the Mountain), and The White Tower.

He was the ghost writer for Tenzing Norgay's autobiography Man of Everest (originally published as Tiger of the Snows). High Conquest was the first of nine books for J.B. Lippincott coming out in 1941 followed by The White Tower, River of The Sun, Windom's Way, and Banner in the Sky which was a 1955 Newbery Honor book. All of these titles became major motion pictures.

Ullman also authored John Harlin's biography Straight Up.

He also wrote the short story "Top Man", a story about mountaineers climbing K3, a mountain in India.

Beyond his mountaineering books, he wrote "Where the Bong Tree Grows," an account of a year he spent traveling through some of the most remote islands of the South Pacific.

He joined the American Mount Everest Expedition 1963 as official historian. Because of health problems he had to stay in Kathmandu. The book Americans on Everest: The Official Account of the Ascent was published in 1964.

Reviews

[Magdelanye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was I 14 when I read this sprawling, tumultuous book. Of course I loved it and was thrilled to follow the lives of its poets to their tragic destinies, and then to go on to discover the individual works.
It also encouraged me to learn French and I even wrote a poem in French under the books strong influence. I memorized the poem on the frontspiece .Almost 50 years later, can quote (and this is not one of my special skills)
Mon Ame eternalle
observe ton viut
malgre the nuit seul
et le jour en fou

[Peter Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a rebelious, ADHD addled teenager with a drinking problem. Rimbaud's life had every bit as much effect on me as Holden Caufield's and the free-wheeling lives of the characters of On the Road and The Dharma Bums. I think what affected me most was Rimbaud's incredible ability to adapt to extreme circumstances and his need for new experiences.

That I grew up to have some pretty incredible experiences of my own was due not in small part to the influence of this book. It also left me with a life long yearning for absinthe, alas, never to be satisfied.

[Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this out-of-print masterpiece based on a recommendation from Annie Dillard in her book Holy the Firm. In it, she stated The Day on Fire inspired her to become a writer. I can see why.

The prose is beautiful. The character studies perceptive. The emotions broad.

This long novel is inspired by both the real and imagined life of Rimbaud. A number of previous reviewer‘s found the first half of the novel is better than the last. For me, it was the opposite....the novel only got better as it progressed. I learned much about Geopolitics, commerce, history, poetry, and geography. In particular, I now plan to read and learn more about the history of Ethiopia.

There is a thoughtful trigger warning at the front of the book regarding the use of a specific word, which is noteworthy given the book was written > 60 years ago.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered 'The Day on Fire' one weekend when I was looking for something to read from my Dad's bookshelf. He picked this one up and told me how much he loved it and so I borrowed it. I read it, loved it and borrowed it for about 20 years, re-reading it several times. Dad has finally reclaimed it. I don't recommend it to people simply because it is out-of-print but it remains in my Top 10 list of all time and I can't ever see it being usurped. If you are lucky enough to come across an old copy of it, scoop it up and enjoy...this book is what reading is all about.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

The experience of reading this novel was intense, to say the least. At times, I was so over powered by its darkness that I needed to set it down to take brain breaks. Arthur Rimbaud (portrayed here as the fictional protagonist, Claude Morel) was a poet I have always greatly admired, and Ullman did a fantastic job of bringing his story to life, the young poet’s creative genius, his passion, his adventures, his loves, his addictions, his struggle with his sexuality and his faith as well as with his creativity, his travels around the world, and his disappointments. I agree with many of the critics here who were disappointed that the first 200 pages were fascinating and moved at a break neck speed, while the later 500 were a bit of a slog, but I am only downgrading it one star for that because I love a setting driven tale, and I was taken places in this novel that I have never been. My main problem was that even some of these stunning setting details in the book’s second two thirds included far too much repetition, which could have been streamlined through some much needed editing. Nonetheless, I am grateful to have read this powerful book, and I recommend it. Maybe I would rate it 4.5 if given that choice.

April 21, 2024: After some meaningful reflection, I changed my mind about this one. It seems the author intentionally dragged out those desert scenes in the second half of the book in order to recreate for readers the hypnotic, endless, and frustrating feelings these characters experience as they cross the African desert on foot and by caravan, which seems to them infinite at times. So, I am changing my rating from 4 or 4.5 stars to five today. This one was too compelling and well written to merit any less.

[Katrinka · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really solid work that kept drawing me in, and this in spite of never feeling any love for the protagonist. All the same, at some point I thought, and bizarrely enough, that I'd probably prefer a straight-up biography of Rimbaud. Hm.

[Chris Via]

5 stars for the first 200 pages + 2 stars for the remaining 460 = 3 stars. The first and best part covers the portion of Rimbaud's life that is most documented--essentially the same content as the movie Total Eclipse. Rimbaud's life is fascinating, his poetry sublime. I read everything I could get my hands on (French and English) when first I discovered him. Then I watched the aforementioned movie (meh). Yet it would be roughly seven years before I would learn of Ullman's book (mentioned in Annie Dillard's Holy the FirmHoly the Firm). Ullman tells us up front that the book, especially after the first part, is largely imaginative. But even read as a narrative of the literal and spiritual wanderings of an enfant terrible, the 460 pages are grueling, repetitive, dense paragraphs that would please those looking for a travel journal more than a novel, be it biographical or otherwise. When I learned that Ullman was himself quite the traveler and mountaineer and spent time retraces the steps of Rimbaud, the self-indulgent bloat of the novel made more sense. I really wanted to like this one more--in fact, I prioritized and expedited its reading--but 664 pages of text set in 6pt Dante MT face was too much to ask for so underwhelming an experience.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book that made Annie Dillard (my favorite author) want to be a writer, a fictional account of the life of the poet Arthur Rimbaud, set in France in the 1800's. Great writing, very like Proust in these long lyrical sentences that last forever; and I also loved how Ullman has Rimbaud walk everywhere, miles and miles from Paris to a village and back or towards other countries. Of course, it was the 1800's so it makes sense. The descriptions of French society and Rimbaud's drug use and affairs esp with Paul Verlaine, the poet, were a little shocking to think of the times, it read very modern.

[Tracy Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible read on the life of Rimbaud.

[Janis Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life.

[Matthew Edgeworth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Rimbaud's writings and he had a fascinating life, so this sounded brilliant. The narrative had such promise, but is ultimately filled with such absolute nonsense - namely the authors own fantasies projected onto Rimbaud, who honestly seems more a proxy, as some kind of genius gary stu stand-in, for the author, rather than a flesh-and-blood historical figure. The prose becomes incredibly monotonous as things go on and though inspired by Rimbaud's real life, it comes across more as a stale fantasy of the authors own making. These flaws combined with severely dated racist elements results in a huge let down here.

[R.]

Annie Dillard extolls the inspirational virtues of this biographical novel in Holy the Firm

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this an immensely frustrating read because the first half is so much more thrilling than the second, and the second half made me feel as if feeling that way was somehow wrong… I imagine it may be a book that I'll grow with and change my thoughts on this, and it's not that the second half of the book isn't without its moments; just that the epic rhapsodies on art being basically more important than anything early on tallied so hard with things I've only just begun to realise in the past year of my life that I couldn't help feeling let down when the book suddenly begins to champion LIFE etc, lol… It pulls itself together very nicely by the end, but I feel even if one day I get more out of the second half, I'll always find it far too long and meandering…

[Cordelia Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago and have never forgotten it - -- it is a biography of Rimbaud.
It knocked my socks off when I was 19 or so I wonder if it holds up. I found out many years later that it was written by the step father of a friend of mine.

[Hannah]

i just got this in the mail, the valancourt edition, and i’m so excited!