Melville House Books

Arthur Rimbaud: This one's definitely him

MobyLives reader Steve Mitchemore tips us off to a post by Pierre Joris saying that the story about the discovery of a previously unseen photograph of Arthur Rimbaud (see yesterday’s MobyLives report) is a hoax.

According to Joris, the photos “are in fact the work of a crazy Rimbaldian forger who has already committed various literary hoaxes (a sort of French Kent Johnson, maybe!?). I was alerted to it by another Frenchman who seems to track the forger mercilessly through cyberspace, if not to Aden ….”

That “other Frenchman” — Raphaél Zacharie de Izarra – posted his comment, in French, on Joris’ earlier post about the photo.

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.