Arthur Rimbaud's invented "Splendide-Hotel," "built in the chaos of ice and of the polar night," provides the occasion for Sorrentino's imaginative meditation on letters and language. Each chapter serves as an opportunity for the author to expand on thoughts and images suggested by a letter of the alphabet, as well as to reflect upon the workings of the imagination, particularly in the art of William Carlos Williams and Arthur Rimbaud. Reminiscent of the philosophical treatise/poem "On Being Blue" by William H. Glass, "Splendide-Hotel" is a Grand Hotel of the mind, splendidly conceived.
- ISBN10 0811204952
- ISBN13 9780811204958
- Publish Date 31 December 1998 (first published 1 February 1973)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 30 September 2011
- Publish Country US
- Imprint New Directions Publishing Corporation
- Format Paperback
- Language English