Reading in bath time : samoussin Rimbaud, Poetry and Jacuzzi

Accueil / Reading in bath time : samoussin Rimbaud, Poetry and Jacuzzi

Book Holder and materials
21/02/2025

Those Delightfully Old-Fashioned Pleasures

There was a time when taking a pause, enjoying a fragrant bath, and choosing a good book was an art de vivre cultivated with delight.

Today, as our lives seem to accelerate endlessly, these moments that some might call old-fashioned are regaining their nobility. More and more of us are embracing a “slowlife” lifestyle. Like an obvious truth, it emerges as an accessible luxury, a necessary breath of fresh air in our daily lives overwhelmed with screens and constant demands.

The Art of Literary Bathing, a Time-Honored Tradition

From antiquity to the present day, the bath has always been that privileged place where the mind wanders while the body unwinds. Roman baths already housed libraries, testifying to this ancestral link between water and culture. Today, this tradition endures and reinvents itself, driven by our growing desire for authentic and rejuvenating moments.

At aricomagic, we know that taking baths isn’t very eco-friendly and it’s a pleasure we shouldn’t overindulge in. So, to enjoy it without too much guilt, we have a whole array of ideas for saving water in daily life, allowing us to indulge in this ancestral ritual without too many complexes.

To limit the ecological impact of this pleasure, favor fewer but more qualitative baths: reuse cooking water for your plants, install aerators on your taps, use a good old-fashioned tooth glass, and prefer quick showers for daily use.

What to Read in the Bath? Choose a Literary Genre Suited to This Moment of Relaxation

Placing it above this bubbling bath shows just how much confidence I have in the stability of our reading cushion.

Poetry sometimes suffers from an elitist image, associated with school recitations or literary circles. Yet it is perhaps the most intimate genre, the most conducive to personal and sensitive reading.

In an age where we consume information in ever-shorter fragments, where social media dictates our reading rhythms, poetry appears to us as an act of gentle resistance. It invites us to slow down, to savor each word, each sound, each image.

Why Choose Poetry for This Special Moment?

This format allows us to suspend time. Unlike novels that demand long-term engagement, a poem offers a complete experience in just a few verses. This brevity echoes our contemporary need for intense yet accessible moments.

Thus, poetry possesses this unique ability to transport us in just a few verses. A Baudelaire poem read in the calm of your bathroom becomes a total sensory experience. There seems to be a meditative aspect that works well in this marriage of poetry and spa atmosphere. Words resonate differently in this intimate space, their musicality blending with the lapping of water and the reflection of candles.

Indeed, the very brevity of the poem perfectly matches the duration of a bath, allowing for a complete reading, a total immersion in the work.

Of course, the pleasure is even greater when you’re fortunate enough to possess a work as enchanting as this precious second edition of Les Fleurs du Mal. An inheritance acquired during my teenage years from the family library shelves, I particularly cherish the texture of its yellowed pages.

The Rimbaud samoussin was most certainly inspired by this book, and placing it on top of this bubbling bath shows just how much confidence I have in the stability of our reading cushion.

The Essentials for Perfect Bathtub Reading

The art of creating your poetic parenthesis requires several essential elements working in harmony:

Our first tip is to “choose your moment” carefully. Each time of day offers a different ambiance. In the morning, take advantage of the rising light for an energizing reading – perhaps a few verses from Baudelaire’s ‘L’Homme et la Mer’. In the evening, let yourself be lulled by the gentleness of ‘La Vie Antérieure’ by candlelight.
Next, install a recycled wooden board, cut to measure to fit your bathtub width. It’s very simple to implement, inexpensive, and ensures you have the ideal width. This stable surface will host your samoussin book holder, some candles, and perhaps a cup of tea.
Water temperature is crucial – you need to be able to enjoy a long moment without scalding yourself at the start or freezing at the end.
The lighting ambiance is essential, subdued and warm, created by strategically placed candles, providing sufficient illumination for reading.
Subtle background music – perhaps Aznavour’s “Les Plaisirs Démodés” or, if you’re reading Rimbaud, Verdi’s Aida, whose exotic and African atmosphere might have intrigued the poet after his departure for Aden and Harar.

If poetry isn’t your thing and you prefer e-readers to paper books, you can access Catulle Mendès’s “Pour Lire au bain” French digital version on the BNF website, whose title seems quite appropriate.
Finally, and most importantly, your samoussin, which holds your tablet or book at the perfect height, allowing you to turn pages without fear of splashing.

At aricomagic, we believe that each object should enrich your daily life. Our samoussin book holders embody this philosophy by transforming a simple bath into a complete poetic experience. In our accelerated world, these reading moments become true enchanted parentheses, as precious as they are essential.

Sophie LANGER

The Magazine

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