Selected Letters of Charles Baudelaire: The Conquest of Solitude (Hardcover)

by Charles Baudelaire (Author), Rosemary Lloyd (Translator) "You told me to write to you on the first day of each month, so here I am carrying out my duty..." (more)
Key Phrases: nocturnal poems, conseil judiciaire, two prose poems, Edgar Poe, Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Unlike Flaubert, notes Lloyd in her useful introduciton, Baudelaire (18211867) didn't enjoy writing letters, yet he wrote them with unfailing lucidity and, often, extraordinary intensity of feeling. Ably translated, many published in English for the first time, the letters reveal Baudelaire's harsh daily struggles, exacerbated by syphilis and financial restrictions imposed by his stepfather; his passionate faith in the poetic vocation; his literary preoccupations, particularly as brought into focus by the controversy surrounding The Flowers of Evil; and his relationships with his peers, such as Flaubert, Hugo and Sainte-Beuve, and with women, most notably his mother, who was unable to understand his bohemian lifestyle and to whom he wrote of his mental and physical sufferings with ardent candor. The volume does much to illumine Baudelaire's artistic sensibility, and as such should delight all enthusiasts of his poetry. Lecturer at Cambridge University, Lloyd is the author of Baudelaire's Literary Criticism.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This sensitive translation by a Baudelaire scholar will greatly aid students of Symbolism and Modernism. First, these letters, unlike Baudelaire's poems, lend themselves to adequate translation, so their information in English is reliable. Second, as Lloyd's masterly introduction tells us, Baudelaire disliked writing letters, so he wrote pithy summations. Third, the range of his correspondents (family members and financial guardian, publishers, idols like Wagner and Sainte-Beuve) elicits his assessment of both his sociocultural milieu and his own character and writing. Marilyn Gaddis Rose, Comparative Literature Dept., SUNY at Binghamton
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (February 18, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226039285
• ISBN-13: 978-0226039282
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,547,452 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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