L'Ironie dans les Illuminations: voix empruntées et codes littéraires

Underlying Rimbaud's Illuminations is a crisis of poetic vision generated by conflicting attitudes toward language. In "Guerre" the poet implies that by changing language he can overthrow convention and transform the conditions of existence. But parodies of conventional voices and the subversion of literary codes in "Dévotion," "Génie," "Après le déluge," and "Conte" reveal a fundamental divorce between language and reality. Revolutionary vision is unmasked as narcissistic mirage. The juxtaposition of exalted expectations with expressions of the bankruptcy of poetic language creates ironic possibilities exploited by the poet, leading to a broader commentary on the nature of language. (In French) (MRS)