The Flowers of Evil (Wesleyan Poetry Series) [Hardcover]

Charles Baudelaire (Author), Keith Waldrop (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 081956799X | ISBN-13: 978-0819567994 | Publication Date: August 11, 2006

The poetic masterpiece of the great nineteenth-century writer Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil is one of the most frequently read and studied works in the French language. In this compelling new translation of Baudelaire's most famous collection, Keith Waldrop recasts the poet's original French alexandrines and other poetic arrangements into versets, a form that hovers between poetry and prose. Maintaining Baudelaire's complex view of sound and structure, Waldrop's translation mirrors the intricacy of the original without attempting to replicate its inimitable verse. The result is a powerful new re-imagining, one that is, almost paradoxically, closer to Baudelaire's own poetry than any previous English translation. Including the six poems banned from the first edition, this Flowers of Evil preserves the complexity, eloquence, and dark humor of its author. Brought here to new life, it is hypnotic, frank, and forceful.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The rendering of Baudelaire's ground-breaking classic into English has been tackled numerous times in various ways since the 19th century. In this version, rather than utilizing rhymed stanzas, free verse or prose, prolific poet and translator Waldrop attempts to capture Baudelaire's ever-elusive tone in versets, paragraphs of "measured prose" similar to those used in the King James Bible. While readers may miss the compression and restraint that line breaks demanded in earlier translations, Waldrop does succeed in approaching Baudelaire's layered irony, at once serious and over-the-top, comic and scandalous. Reading "Like some rake...gumming the brutalized tit of a superannuated whore" , it becomes clear why the French government saw fit to ban some of this work in 1857. At the same time, Baudelaire-the archetypal urban dandy-could see the beauty of a female beggar ("your sickly young body, densely freckled, has a sweetness for this poor poet"), identify himself with the "awkward and ashamed" albatross abused by sailors, and see in a naked lover "the hips of Antiope united with the bust of a beardless boy." Waldrop sounds off on all-things-Baudelaire in an informative introduction. New translations of this seminal poet will continue to surface with each new generation of readers and writers: Waldrop brings a contemporary feels to Baudelaire's most important work.
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Review

"Thus the delight and curiosity of Keith Waldrop's new translation. It's close to plain prose: 'versets,' he calls them, paragraphs divided where Baudelaire's stanza's break. It's by no means the first prose translation, but it's the most charming: I don't recall another version, verse or prose, that slips so easily into the comradely 'we.'"--New York Times Book Review

The task of the translator...is to reconcile the strengths of the poet with his new surroundings, setting him in flight with wings that do not impede his walk. In part from the landing on versets, but more particularly from his deftness in English and the depth of his understanding of Baudelaire, Keith Waldrop has created a Flowers of Evil that, one gesture, can come to terms with the new needs of poetry readers in English and the foreignness of the language of Les Fleurs du mal."--Rain Taxi

"Waldrop's translations soar...perhaps getting closer to Baudelaire's rich tone than any other English translation."--Chicago Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wesleyan (August 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081956799X
• ISBN-13: 978-0819567994
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,903,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poems that will grab you!, October 4, 2005

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Flowers of Evil (Bilingual Edition) (New Directions Paperbook) (Paperback)

As you read these stark and beautiful poems you may see into the tortured psyche of the poet who wrote them. Baudelaire had a short and sad life. He contracted syphilis at a young age, and this disease plagued him for all his life until he died at the age of 46. His poetry was written in the mid nineteenth century, and when this book came out in 1857 it shocked the French-speaking world. In fact the book was banned for a time, and when it did come out again six or seven poems were removed from it. The edition that I had had all his poetry including the banned ones, and I recommend that if you're interested in great poetry that you get the complete edition. In his poetry Baudelaire examined evil under a magnifying glass and exposed it for the world to see. His language and imagery are absolutely beyond belief. Baudelaire was a very talented wordsmith and his poetry is lyrical an descriptive. In the cold light of our modern world, Baudelaire's stepping into the world of erotica seems tame compared to what we're used to, but it's easy to see why it shocked everyone at the time. This is beautiful poetry that will come out and grab your soul.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Translation I've Seen, April 16, 2002

By 

E. Shlimovich (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Flowers of Evil (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This edition of "Flowers of Evil" contains all of the poems, not in their original order. However, ample introductory material and two tables of contents allows the reader to see what the work was when it was first published.

The poems themselves cover many subjects in traditional symbolist style, from cats to gypsies to corpses to a whole section on wine. A must for any student of poetry.

However, if you're looking for a translation that is true word for word and does not attempt to preserve the meter and rhyme, this is not the book for you. Mcentyre does a fabulous job tweaking the enlish to preserve poetic structure, but for students of French, and those interested in doing their own translations, other editions are preferable.

28 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent collection of Baudelaire's work, February 8, 2004

By 

N. Jacobs (Fish Creek, Wi USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Flowers of Evil (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Charles Baudelaire's poetry is some of the best poetry ever written. He explores a number of different themes, often focusing on his personal experiances and emotions. To those of us who have suffered in life, one can easily relate to a lot of the feelings he felt. There are many hidden messages in the poetry, and the language is very rich and educated. You can get a lot of different interpretations out of these poems, which make them all the more relevant to the reader.
The best thing about this book is the fact that it features both the original French and an English translation, side by side. For those who are fluent or well versed in French, this is a dream come true. The translations are expertly done, and great care has been done to preserve the rhyme schemes without losing the meaning of the poems.