The Flowers of Evil

Les Fleurs du Mal

Charles Baudelaire, Aaron Poochigian, Dana Gioia , Daniel Handler

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English

Norton
18 May 2023

Poetry; Literature: history & criticism

"Known to his contemporaries primarily as an art critic, but ambitious to secure a more lasting literary legacy, Charles Baudelaire, a Parisian bohemian, spent much of the 1840s composing gritty, often perverse, poems that expressed his disgust with the banality of modern city life.

First published in 1857, the book that collected these poems together, Les Fleurs du mal, was an instant sensation-earning Baudelaire plaudits and, simultaneously, disrepute. Only a year after Gustave Flaubert had endured his own public trial for published indecency (for Madame Bovary), a French court declared Les Fleurs du mal an offense against public morals and six poems within it were immediately suppressed (a ruling that would not be reversed until 1949, nearly a century after Baudelaire's untimely death). Subsequent editions expanded on the original, including new poems that have since been recognized as Baudelaire's masterpieces, producing a body of work that stands as the most consequential, controversial, and influential book of poetry from the nineteenth century.

Acclaimed translator and poet Aaron Poochigian tackles this revolutionary text with an ear attuned to Baudelaire's lyrical innovations-rendering them in ""an assertive blend of full and slant rhymes and fluent iambs"" (A. E. Stallings)-and an intuitive feel for the work's dark and brooding mood. Poochigian's version captures the incantatory, almost magical, effect of the original-reanimating for today's reader Baudelaire's ""unfailing vision"" that ""trumpeted the space and light of the future"" (Patti Smith).

An introduction by Dana Gioia offers a probing reassessment of the supreme artistry of Baudelaire's masterpiece, and an afterword by Daniel Handler explores its continued relevance and appeal. Featuring the poems in English and French, this deluxe dual-language edition allows readers to commune both with the original poems and with these electric, revelatory translations."

By: Charles Baudelaire
Afterword by: Daniel Handler
Introduction by: Dana Gioia
Translated by: Aaron Poochigian
Imprint: Norton
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 211mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 302g
ISBN: 9781324092919
ISBN 10: 1324092912
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 18 May 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) was a French poet, critic, essayist, and translator. He is buried in the Cimetiere du Montparnasse in Paris. Aaron Poochigian has published four books of poetry and several translations, including Aristophanes: Four Plays (2021). He lives in New York City.