Customer Reviews

Flowers of Evil and Other Works/Les Fleurs du Mal et Oeuvres Choisies : A Dual-Language Book (Dover Foreign Language Study Guides)

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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.

"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...

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.

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...

I've taught French for years and worked as a technical translator for computer hardware and software providers. I love poetry. I love the English language. I love the French language. For a student or poetry lover, this book is an invaluable guide with original and translation presented side by side. Serious students may quibble a bit over specific phrases in translation, but any English-speaking person can enjoy the art of Beaudelaire without the drudgery of leafing through translating dictionaries and grammars. Lazy students of French could use the book to cheat on assignments, but no one can escape the revelation of the artistry of the verses.

If you think you would be interested in exploring Baudelaire, I would recommend first checking out a website called "Hermenaut". Google-search Hermenaut: Charles Baudelaire. There may be other good websites, but this is the best one I found. After reading the book cover-to-cover, I wanted to do a little further research to get critical perspectives.

The most common websites concentrate mostly on Baudelaire's reputation as an immoral drug-user and make references to "Satanism", which is never substantiated or supported by any evidence. This is all very generic and shallow, and certainly doesn't do justice to the Baudelaire I encountered in these poems and essays. The Hermenaut article is a very intelligent piece which has substantial and analytical things to say about Baudelaire the man, and his work, and says it much better than I can. It summed up for me in an articulate way the same impressions of his work that I had more vaguely formed in my reading of him.

The thing that most impacted me when reading the book was a feeling that Baudelaire fits into no category such as idealist, realist, symbolist,etc. His quest for spiritual freedom was far too individualistic to be contained by any such categorization. He was a metaphysician-poet. I think the term metaphysician fits him better than philosopher, since it has a connotation of mysticism and the visionary.

He refused to concede any authority over himself of what he considered to be utilitarian, vulgar, and banal; in other words - bourgeois. These were the things Baudelaire considered to be evil. Mediocrity is the consequence and product of the natural world; therefore he considered the natural world to be "Satanic". Baudelaire pursued this attitude to great detriment and suffering to himself in his personal life. His way of facing the world had about the same result as if he had placed a sign on his back with large letters "KICK ME!".

My feeling is that without going to his extremes , we might examine his vision to enlarge our perception of humanity and existence. These poems, prose poems and essays on art and literature lead me to believe Baudelaire was a man of genius whose vision gave him unique insights. But it must be said that he also made some sociopathic statements which no reasonable person would condone. My suspicion is that those were mostly for shock value and to set himself apart from the crowd. His intensity and commitment, unfortunately led him into lonely and alienated outposts of the mind. The last lines of his poem "The Voyage" expresses this aspect of Baudelaire:
"The fire searing our brain is such that we want
To plunge to the bottom of the abyss, whether it be
Heaven or Hell,
To the bottom of the Unknown in order to find some-
thing new!

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?

The only way to read great poetry is in the original language. For those whose French is a little shaky this book will allow you to appreciate the music of the original while not losing track of the meaning. And you will also appreciate the limitations and loss of nuance entailed in any translation.

These poems were revolutionary in their day. They have been enormously influential and still have the power to shock and move. T.S. Eliot called them the first modern poems. They deal with subject matter considered bizarre and perverse in his time, such as a rotting corpse and a giant prostitute. The persona of the poet is tormented by guilt, remorse, unrequited love, and helpless addiction to vice. There had been nothing quite like this before. A major influence was Edgar Allen Poe, whose works he translated into French.

Baudelaire was the archetype of the poet maudit, defying his family and squandering his inheritance until he was cut off, then living in poverty until an early death from strokes, possibly caused by neurosyphilis. He was obsessed by a beautiful mistress who merely tolerated his advances. In addition to being a great poet, he was a highly regarded literary and artistic critic. He is universally recognized as one of the greats of French literature and culture. If you're interested in world literature, this is a must read.