Charles Baudelaire Books

I am almost finished reading this. I found the picture on the cover of "Paris Spleen" scintillating, with Baudelaire's debased-looking image peering out of the cover (my husband said it looked "honest"). I always thought of Baudelaire as a decadent and sardonic man of sorts, but after reading some of his writings here, I can say he was very sensitive and profound in many ways, and, like myself and others, he wished to "escape" the daily world and the daily rut of the city he belonged to. At best, his despair is something akin to the world-weariness of Poe.

This is a wonderful book -- Baudelaire's prose poems perfectly capture the spirit of 19th century Paris as it rushes into modernism. Don't be seduced by prettier editions of this book -- it is crucial to get the Varese translation! Also, Walter Benjamin's early to mid twentieth century critique of Baudelarie should not be missed.

The book that helped me overcome my prejudice against poetry--I carried "Paris Spleen" around with me for a couple of weeks after I first read it, and kept turning back to certain poems as I went about my daily errands. Even though it's nearly 150 years old it seems as timely and contemporary as it must have seemed when it was first published--absolutely top-notch.

Yes, Baudelaire, himself told to his friend Troubat:"These are The flowers of evil again, but with more freedom,much more detailes, and much more mockery". Noone before Baudelaire has ever concepted the poem in prose which would express so many special, original and protesting sensations. This urban, very personal poetry is a product of the metropolitan noisy atmosphere, and as it is surrounded with fog of overpopulated, but yet unexplored areas.This poetry expresses more than the actual meaning of the words is telling.Spleen is created of prose and pure poetry, of the reflection of the analytical spirit and intuitive introspection.The apostle of pain and depression,Baudelaire is the one who analyzes his own and other people's sins, expresses himself as a moralist in this book as well.

An elegant, accurate, and readable translation of this wonderful little book that can revolutionize your way of seeing and thinking. Some newer, and in some ways, better translations have appeared since this one became the "standard," but it's still a good buy and a sure bet for reading pleasure.

Charles Baudelaire is a one of the finest French poets. Critics refer to his works as "les poemes obscures. If you like Edgar Alan Poe's style, you'll love Baudelaire. I recommend reading 2 poems in particular " La Beaute", and "L'ennemi".

If you are a bilingual reader, I'd recommend buying "Contes Francais". This is, again, a dual-language book with chosen stories from Voltaire, Balzac, Gide, et Camus...

Les Fleurs du Mal is a bittersweet compilation of poems by Charles Baudelaire, the master of forlorn sentiments who lived in Paris around 1850. Unique to his style is a juxtaposition of the realm of nature with that of the modern city (Paris). Baudelaire, like Gaugin, was one of the few artists of his cohort who had traveled out of his usual frame of reference (from Paris to the islands of La Reunion and back to Paris again), instilling in his vision a lust for the exotic and for realms of simple enchantment. While many perceive his works as pessimistic, it seems to me that the elements of humour and sarcasm woven throughout his works reveal an underlying transcendence over any serious lugubrious entrapment. The French-English text here helps to expose what may have been lost or altered in the translation. Ultimately the poems and their English counterparts here maintain the glory of Baudelaire- dark and uncanny rhymes often intertwined with florid beauty and intimations of the untarnished. A timeless works, the Flowers of Evil is sublimely written.

I purchased this book, misled (or perhaps just too hopeful) by its title and description, expecting that it would contain facing English translations of *all* the poems in Les Fleurs Du Mal. Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found only 50 of the 160 or so poems! I hope this brief notice prevents other readers from making a similar error. If you want all the poems, or better still, the complete works, in translation, then you will have to look elsewhere (I don't have a current recommendation, but will post one when I do).

That said, Wallace Fowlie's translations of the 50 selected poems are very accurate, and worth having for that reason alone. These are literal translations (what we used to call "ponies," although I am not sure why, in school.) He renders every line, pretty much word-for-word, into good understandable English, making no attempt to create a "literary" or "poetic" version. I would use these translations simply to check my understanding of the original French, and can recommend them very highly to students for that purpose.

Very interesting item! The best works by Charles Baudelaire in French original and in English translation. Except the great qualities of Baudelaire's poetry the value of this book is also in the possibility to compare original with translation. There are many academic disputes about translating of poetry. This book is a fine example of an effort to offer every reader a chance to judge for himself about quality of each and every translation. "Flowers of evil" are enough for five stars themselves. What to say then about this book which offers double-language edition of the forst modern collection of poetry and also some additional texts?

"All the bourgeois fools who incessantly utter the words immoral, immorality, morality in art, and other silly things remind me of Louise Villedieu, a five franc whore who, when accompanying me one day to the Louvre - where she had never been - started blushing and covering her face; and pulling all the time at my sleeve, she asked, before the immortal statues and paintings, how people could put such obscenities on public display" ~ Mon Coeur mis a nu (My heart laid bare)

The ministry of interior declared in 1857 that "Les Fleurs du Mal" constituted "an act of defiance in contempt of the laws which safeguard religion and morality" and both Baudelaire, the publisher and the printer was convicted on grounds of immorality, and all available copies of "Les Fleurs du Mal" was confiscated.

The courts verdict stated that whatever mitigating comments "Les Fleurs du Mal" might contain, nothing could dissipate the harmful effects of the images Mr. Baudelaire presents to the reader, and which, in the incriminated poems, inevitably lead to the arousal of the senses by crude and indecent realism.

"You know that I have only considered literature and the arts as pursuing a goal unrelated to morality, and that the beauty of conception and style alone are enough for me." ~ Baudelaire

The ban on the censored poems was not lifted until May 31, 1949!!

With "Les Fleurs du Mal" Baudelaire came to spearhead the Symbolist movement as a reaction against the prevailing naturalism in literature at the time. Baudelaire sublimated debauchery, spleen and hideousness to an art of studied elegance, but people often forget the wicked sense of cynical, black humour permeating many of his poems:

"I've just seen an adorable woman. She has the most beautiful eyes in the world - which she draws with a matchstick - the most provocative eyes - the brilliance of which is the clue solely to the khol on her eyelid - a voluptuous mouth - drawn with cochineal - and, on top of that, not a hair of her own - in short 'A GREAT ARTIST !` "

In Baudelaire's own words "A translation of poetry... may be an enticing dream, but can only ever be a dream" and therefore this dual-language book of "The Flowers of Evil/Les Fleurs du Mal" definetly is the one to get...

the "Everyman's" series is the best stocking stuffers ever created. I am a bit of a Baudelaire buff, and I must say, this small version is perhaps my favorite. There is not much else to say. I have spent the time sorting through the poorly translated, badly misquoted versions of Flowers of Evil. Learn from my mistake. Pass by the frilly, big, seventeen color dustjacket editions and buy this little guy. It will not dissapoint you. Good day.

this translation was produced by a contemporory American poet Richard Howard, whose poems were included in the Norton Anthology of English Poetry. - English is my third language. - I agree with the review of Howard's version in 'Baudelaire in English'.

The images containd in this book are frighteningly familiar and distanlty arranged. With every page the reader will be forced to go wherever the lines may travel. To and fro the words swagger and stumble. Gifted and pitiful, sad scenes flood out onto the page. Sexual-sciFi, erotica at it's finest before it ever had a name. Psycho-manipulative and potent. At times it will make you laugh, both in humor and in disgust. A definite add-on to any literate collector of art. Intense and a very fine book of scattered wisdom.

Baudelaire is credited, along with Whitman and Dickinson, with being the inventor of modern poetry. I wish someone would actually explain why modern poetry begins with him. (email anyone?)

But this book really is great. Get the Everyman's Pocket Poet's version. It's got all (or almost all, I haven't counted) of Baudelaire's masterpiece "Les Fleur Du Mal," in a good translation by Richard Howard (though also check out Norman Shapiro's). And it has selections from Michael Hamburger's wonderful translation of Baudelaire's prose poems, "Le Spleen Du Paris." The best of these is "GET DRUNK," or "Enivrez-vous!" It begins:

One should always be drunk. That's all that matters; that's our one imperative need. So as not to feel Time's horrible burden that breaks your shoulders and bows you down, you must get drunk without ceasing. ....

Baudelaire was full of dark energy like that. It disgusts and attracts. When it gets tiresome--and, like too much honey and too much Delacroix, reading about maggots eating lovers' flesh, will get tiresome--just put it down. When you pick it up you'll get some fresh insights. How fresh? As fresh as the in simile B. uses in "the Vampire": "bind[ing] me . . . as gambler to his winning streak." Nicely done. Plus the book is small so you can sneak it into work and easily goof off.

A great writer known primarily for his poetry reflect upon addictive substances, their effects, and their dangers. Insightful, timely, and an interesting take, Hesperus continues to publish excellent short unknown translations. Archipelago books does even better with their longer, wider ranging translations, beautifully produced.

Think of this short piece more as a culinary review than a work of philosophy or fiction or even memoir. Baudelaire speaks to the pros and cons of both Wine and Hashish as well as the impact of both on the body. In addition, he dabbles in satire and social insight, giving the reader a wonderful view of his life, opinions and experiences.

This is Baud writing about his experiences with Hashish and Wine. It is very poetic and very enjoyable with lots of memorable quotes.

Oh Great Hashish!

Essential background reading for anyone at all interested in Baudelaire - after all, one of his fondest sayings was 'Enivrez-vous!' - 'Get drunk!', and he often celebrated intoxicated states in remarkable style. Although he is not to be side-lined as a writer whose whole scope consists of these intoxicated states - there was a recent biography which put forward the case that his whole significance as a writer was that of a drug-addict - these states do form an integral part of, as it were 'Baudelaire-land', and it is essential to understand them in order to understand Baudelaire as a poet and thinker. Here, in an attractive hesperus volume, we have him writing directly about intoxicated states, in a fascinating insight into the workings of his mind, his time in Paris, and his attitudes towards alcohol and drugs. Well worth buying.

En Paris un poeta al salir de una orgia Angeles aleteando en la bestia veia Noble vision ustorio de este bardo maldito que canta, en tono grave, su fulgor infinito

Yo tambien se visiones en mi mente precita Un tropel de mirages sin descanso palpita Querubines-demonios,grande veldad...conmociones, Que harian estreecer los duros corazones Y en el mortal ignoto un angel canta No ha elevado un estigma,una vision que espanta? Alguna vez poeta, aunque el simple no creer

En el angel dormido una bestia loquea (patea)

Autor: Dr.Jesus Garcia Vazques

Symbolism is one of those schools of poetry that seems to fallen out of favor. Baudelaire's own particular brand is harsh, revolutionary, and sensual. This is not frilly love poetry but the work of a great decadent of mid-nineteenth century France. While much is lost in translation, his poetry still rings quite powerfully and is as relevant today as it ever will be. This is one of the books that helped found later surrealist movements along with the work of Rimbaud and Marquis De Sade. A great beautiful book dealing with the great temptations and filth of existence, in essence that which brings on evil.

This bilingual edition (masterfully translated by Norman Shapiro) carefully transposes the French originals into a formal, poetic English idiom, which captures both the meaning and the music of Baudelaire, the fallen angel and champion of evil. Though conventional in terms of his metrics and poetic forms, Baudelaire is arguably the first great Modernist poet. One dives into the murky miasmata of these pages to discover a world of perverse pleasures, wrathful and sordid imagery and unregenerate vice glorified by one of its most eloquent spokesmen. Baudelaire, a tortured personality, in which profound guilt is contraposed with carnal lust, Satanism, delight in cruelty and a longing for hell, is one of the towering giants of modern European literature. His poetry is a bitter fruit that few can savour with impunity.

Shapiro manages to capture Baudelaire's essence without sacrificing his form. These versions read like English poetry. They are the best I have read--and I have read them all, past and present. Highly recommended for admirers of Baudelaire and students of the craft (and art!) of literary translation.

This is the document of a poet consecrating himself to memory. His attempt to maintain perspective; his aesthetic self objectification that is repeatedly shattered when he looks into society; his Catholocism, his ennui, his mistress, his mother...all these cast a definitely "intimate" hue to the pages that are essential for any reader wishing to come to terms with Baudelaire's psyche: to see why his self-destruction was inseparable from his creations. For they were both necessary symptoms of his sensibility - an immaculately modern sensibility. The fragmented nature of the writings prevents the work from actually being a "work" - it is more like an authentic gesture, an unpremeditated act of self revelation. A fascinating and ultimately harrowing document from a poet - nothing more.

Living from 1821 to 1867, primarily in Paris. Charles Baudelaire was his centuries poet of discontent. Religious, blasphemous, elitist and anti-snob, all at once, he seemed from the start to be a life driven to self-destruction. Absinthe, opium, and a mistress were his only relief. And in the end, the were what killed him. The epitome of the tortured soul.

Most of us know of him now only by reputation, or from exposure to Fleurs du Mal. That thin volume of poetry has had an influence far beyond it's size. In many ways, Baudelaire was one of the beat generation's greatest precursors.

The Intimate Journals is actually a collection of three sets of papers that frame the final years of Baudelaire's excruciating journey. They are the notes of a man who faced financial and physical ruin and yet still kept up his piercing intellect. In it you will find short notes essays about his world, society, and philosophy.

This isn't poetry, but a direct look into the inner thinking of a poet who is often written off as the perfect degenerate. Intimate Journals offers an opportunity to re-evaluate Baudelaire as both a man and a writer, whose thinking is equally compelling a century and a half later.

The preface written by translator Christopher Isherwood, and W. H. Auden's introduction are brilliant on their own as well (T. S. Eliot wrote the original introduction for the first edition).

This book is not only gorgeous to browse through yet exceptionally poetic and useful at the same time. It is a bilingual book- french and english with absolutely fabulous illustrations to aid the imagination. Sucha lovely work and an intriguing way to involve both adults and children into Baudelaire's complex poetry. Well done!

The translation here strays a bit from the original for the sake of making it rhyme. Although this may raise the eyebrows of some purists, I feel that the english version has charms of its own. The design of this book is really outstanding, and the old duo-tone photographs used to illustrate it are quite poetic in their own right, and seem even more so as a result of the way they are combined with the text. The book as a whole evokes images of a lost paradise, which I have never seen expressed so well outside of the writings of Proust. I even like the way it smells! This would make an excellent gift for any lover of poetry or photography.

There are many insights about evil in this book - whether it's the evil of some mass movements or the psychology of a killer the need to make the acts appealing in some way drives both in their need for powerful illusions about the nature of evil. The irrealism found in the writings of Baudelaire or Nietzsche attempt to make evil palpable to people - they try and find beauty in ugliness or make ugly things look beautiful. the almost magical use of language transforms what is empty or hideous into something that is seemingly meaningful and glorious - for the practitioner or promoter of evil the form of language is used to distract from or hide the content. this among other things unites the poet, the philosopher and the politician - the three were wizards with language and oratory - able to make what is awful and heinous seem good and needed.

the book is divided into short chapters making it easy - if sometimes disturbing - to read. the first part is about theory about evil; the second is about the practice of evil-doers; and the third is about theories of evil and love. the final part of the book has thoughts on non-violence combating evil and finds support, interestingly, in Nietzsche - the philosopher of power. non-violence in the face of evil, requires much faith and strength and will, but anyone who believes that truth (people have intrinsic worth and dignity) and goodness (real virtues like courage, honour etc...) can overcome lies (people are merely animals) and evil (morality is a fiction); and that shame and guilt are still present even in moral monsters or those around them will find the non-violent answer convincing, I think... I'm glad to have read this book - it made me reflect on questions like: what is a just war? and how is a just war fought? as well as numerous issues around the subject of evil... very much recommended...

A poet, a philosopher and a politician each understood the attraction of evil, depicting it in their respective genres; but it takes religious hermit and scholar Claire Ortiz Hill to put the three together under one cover in Roots And Flower Of Evil In Baudelaire, Nietzsche And Hitler pulling together their writings to examine and contrast philosophy with historical events in which evil is manifested. Her comparison will interest college-level students of both literature and philosophy and will provide excellent material for classroom discussion and further inquiry.

This version of selected works is one of the best French to English translations of Baudelaire I've come across. The text is not manipulated to rhyme in English as it does in French, and therefore is much more representative (in meaning) of the work in it's native language. I'm not much of a poetry reader, but next to Leaves of Grass by Whitman, this (the selections from "The Flowers of Evil" in particular) is my favorite.

The flowers of evil is simply the single greatest book in all of french literature.Read it & agree.