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The two poets and lovers of the 19th century, Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, will they be the new roommates of Voltaire, Rousseau, Dumas and Hugo?
by Celine Peschard
Supported by our Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot, a text signed by many personalities, calls for entry into the Pantheon of Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud, famous intellectuals, reports Le Point.
"Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine are two major poets of our language. They have enriched our heritage with their genius. They are also two symbols of diversity. They had to endure the implacable 'homophobia' of their time. They are the Oscar Wildes. French. It would only be fair to celebrate their memory today by bringing them jointly to the Pantheon", we read in the petition.
In the signatories, we can mention the names of Jack Lang, Christine Ockrent or Edgar Morin. The request was addressed to the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, who alone can authorize this transfer.
Arthur Rimbaud is buried in his home town of Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes). An important point to know: he hated this place.
Paul Verlaine is in the Batignolles cemetery in Paris, "near the ring road under ugly plastic flowers," say the signatories of the appeal. “Is this how France honors its greatest poets?” They ask.
The two lovers had to face justice. Drunk, Verlaine slightly wounds Rimbaud while shooting him because he was about to break. The young man will forgive and refuse any legal action.
“But the Belgian prosecution and the French police have mounted a prosecution case, the archives of which now prove that he was linked to his role in the Commune (uprising in Paris in 1871) and to his homosexuality. He was in prison for 555 days, when he should have spent only a few weekss ”, explain the signatories.
"For all these reasons, political, moral, judicial, and above all literary, it seems to us that the parallel entry to the Pantheon by Rimbaud and Verlaine would be a gesture of considerable symbolic significance." concludes the call.