University/Organization
PITTSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY
Title
BAD BLOOD ANCESTRY: FROM BARBARIAN TO CHRISTIAN
Synopsis
Should we assume that in “Bad Blood” Rimbaud is asserting the Gaul as his authentic historical ancestors? He is not the only Frenchman to have elected the barbarians as his distant relatives, so has the French Republic and its people; for France, the Gaul represent a common chosen ancestry, a unifying symbol.
My study concentrates on how Rimbaud, through his narrator’s claim to ancestry, whether singular or plural, barbarian or Christian, shapes his identity, and the identity of his readers.