150 years of Une saison en enfer and the phantom of Isabelle Rimbaud

To what degree can we be sure that the sentiments of remorse or repentence expressed in Une saison en enfer are sincere or factitious? The piously confident answer to this question first put forth by Isabelle Rimbaud, cautioned later by the likes of Paul Claudel, is far from having lost its influence on our readings of the text. The only way around it, is to proceed as readers attentive to the complexities of irony.