`It is in the chapter on landscape and the painting of modern life that some of the most valuable details and insightful analyses are offered. Here, as elsewhere, Hiddleston's own critical achievement mirrors Baudelaire's, and it is, perhaps, in Hiddleston's erudite symbiosis with the poet, which still manages acute critical distance, that all the power and subtlety of his scholarly arguments lie.' Modern Language Review
`The book offers us new perpectives on Baudelaire and caricature, as well as a close analysis of his theory of laughter.' Robert Lethbridge, Journal of European Studies
`what really makes this sucha rich and distinguished book is Hiddleston's 'feel' for the very texture of creative intersections, so finely attuned is he to the intonations of Baudelaire's language and the tonalities of the pictures he confronted' Robert Lethbridge, Journal of European Studies
`this subtle and attractive introduction to Baudelaire's mental universe.' Forum for Modern Language Studies, Vol 37, No 2
`Hiddleston coaxes novel and persuasive interpretations from his close reading of the Beaudelaire texts.' J-P. Cauvin, Choice, June 2000.
Product Description
This study is an examination of Charles Baudelaire's (1821-67) art criticism and its relationship with his creative writing. It is the first book in English to treat in one volume the diverse aspects of the subject: the principal aesthetic ideas, the importance of the painters Delacroix, Boudin, Meryon, Guys, and Manet, Baudelaire's essays on laughter and caricature, and other critical writings.
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