The American Night
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The American Night[1] is a volume of poetry written by Jim Morrison, front-man for the 1960s psychedelic rock group the Doors, and published posthumously in 1991, 20 years after his death (to the month) by Random House under the trade name imprint Villard Publishing. The book is structured into 10 sections. The title is eponymous with a poem that appears on the album An American Prayer, itself a collection of spoken word and musical vignettes released in 1978.
The American Night is a follow-up and second volume to Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison (first published in 1988).[2] The book consists of his theories on night which the publisher describes as containing "nightmarish images, bold associative leaps, and [a] volcanic power of emotion" and being "the unmistakable artifacts of a great, wild voice and heart."[3]
Morrison's work is often compared to that of French poet Arthur Rimbaud, specifically from his Illuminations collection.[4] Morrison once wrote in a letter to the translator of Rimbaud's collection, "Thanks for doing the Rimbaud translation. I read French but not too easily and I needed your translation. I am a rock singer and your book travels with me wherever I go."[5]
Not only did Morrison read Rimbaud passionately, but his work seems to be inspired by him. Both poets entertain nontraditional formats for their poetry, Rimbaud implementing the prose style while Morrison often played around with space in The American Night. They both stray from normal rhythm and verse. Their shared defiance of societal norms and desires to be known to the world as poets shines through in their defiant structure and tone.[6] Both authors wrote consistently of death in a way that questioned the living, and both bring mythology as well as concepts of life after death into their poetry.[1][4]