Review by Choice Review
The world of spleen (analysis), as opposed to ideal (synthesis), represented to Baudelaire the ugliness of everyday reality that provoked feelings of boredom, evil, and remorse. The greatness of his Fleurs du mal derives from both subjective revolt against spleen and more objective descriptions of what the poet observes as a perpetual stroller (flaneur) through the streets of Paris. The latter method is the central focus of these 50 little prose poems that take the reader on a tour--at once bitter, ironic, and compassionate--of the Paris of the 1850s. This is the first translation of Le Spleen de Paris in more than 40 years. It avoids the ornate, heavy style of the earlier versions while retaining the word play, parody, and rhythmic patterns of the original text. It establishes Baudelaire as the preeminent urban poet and as the authentic forerunner of the modern movement in the arts. His vision here envelops the dichotomy of good and evil, God and Satan, ideal and spleen that pervades the human condition. Illustrations from Baudelaire, Manet, Whistler, Delacroix, Daumier, and others complement this fine edition of a neglected work that is recommended reading for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. J. C. McLaren University of Delaware
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Two books bring the reader into the dazzling darkness of Charles Baudelaire's life and work. Pichois' biography of the French writer aims for a life of the poet that is both accurate and atmospheric. As the editor of an edition of Baudelaire's collected works, Pichois has access to a great deal of useful source material and he quotes from many of these documents, particularly the correspondences, to draw parallels between the author's life and his writings. Other recent research also helps to clarify the myths of Baudelaire's existence and temperament. Baudelaire's assaults on romantic and bourgeois taste and behavior are charted here in ways that preserve both the reserve and passion that fueled Baudelaire's reaction against conventionality in all its forms. Appendixes, notes; index. Edward K. Kaplan's translation of Baudelaire's The Parisian Prowler--also translated under the titles Paris Spleen and Poems in Prose--helps to correct the lack of recent English editions of some of Baudelaire's major works, a condition that Pichois bemoans in his biography. These short prose pieces serve as complements to--and artistic equals of--the skewed everyday reality of his poems. The sketches of Parisian life emerge from Baudelaire's pen as sinister, blackly humorous passages replete with ambiguous moral sentiment--an innovative genre that has influenced many modern writers. To be illustrated with period prints. Notes.--John Brosnahan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
This collection of 50 prose poems, first published in 1862 as Le Spleen de Paris , is Baudelaire's attempt to describe the contradictions, fables, and fictions of city life in an innovative poetic prose. Kaplan's choice of title is indeed a good one, for though it was not the title of the original edition it is an expression often used by Baudelaire. Rendered in present-day English, the poems are restored to their original ``modernity,'' allowing the reader to appreciate Baudelaire's subtle moods and ambiguities. This annotated edition, illustrated with the works of Baudelaire's contemporaries (Daumier, Manet, and Whistler, to name just a few) succeeds in shaking the dust from two earlier translations (Arthur Symons's in 1905 and Louise Varese's in 1947) and brings to light Baudelaire's precocious contributions to modern thought.-- Danielle Mihram, Univ. of Southern California Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Library Journal Review
