For Baudelaire, love was the essence of the forbidden and he saw the individual as a divided being, drawn equally towards good and evil, the ideal and the sensual. His originality sets him apart from the dominant literary schools of his time and his poetry is regarded as the last brilliant summation of Romanticism, the precursor of Symbolism, and the first expression of Modernity.
Immediately after the publication of Les Fleurs du Mal in 1857, Baudelaire was prosecuted and found guilty of obscenity and blasphemy. Today, Les Fleurs du Mal is considered by many to be the most important and influential poetry collection published in Europe in the 19th century.
The Whale and Star Press series on Artists and Writers is devoted to offering readers the best of world literature, art and poetry. Each book brings together an introduction to the work of an influential writer and an important artist in a beautiful and affordable paperback edition.
