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 | | The Flowers of Evil (Wesleyan Poetry) by Charles Baudelaire, Keith Waldrop (Translator) ISBN-10: 9780819568007 ISBN-10: 0-8195-6800-7 ISBN-13: 9780819568007 ISBN-13: 978-0-8195-6800-7 Paperback 2008-02-28 Wesleyan Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description The poetic masterpiece of the great nineteenth-century writer Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil is one of the most frequently read and studied works in the French language. In this compelling new translation of Baudelaire's most famous collection, Keith Waldrop recasts the poet's original French alexandrines and other poetic arrangements into versets, a form that hovers between poetry and prose. Maintaining Baudelaire's complex view of sound and structure, Waldrop's translation mirrors the intricacy of the original without attempting to replicate its inimitable verse. The result is a powerful new re-imagining, one that is, almost paradoxically, closer to Baudelaire's own poetry than any previous English translation. Including the six poems banned from the first edition, this Flowers of Evil preserves the complexity, eloquence, and dark humor of its author. Brought here to new life, it is hypnotic, frank, and forceful. | ||
Reviews | ||
FLOWERS OF EVIL - NOT FLOWERY & GOOD!!! One of the finest examples of French Symbolist poetry around. This guy was a real freak, fiend, madman genius. In short, a true G. You won't find a lot of poems about flowers & gardens here. Prostitutes, grime, poverty, drug addiction, crime, rape, brutality; you know, simple normal everyday life. Start here in your study of French poetry then move onto Rimbaud, Verlaine, Appollinaire[sic?] & Mallarme. Or don't, what do I care? | ||
The first (and one of the best) modern poet's of our time Baudelaire's poetry is a potent brew of Poe's mystery/terror, Flaubert's realism, Byron's brand of romanticism and a touch Sade's sexual philosophy. Having said this however, I do not wish to say that Baudelaire's Fleur du Mal is derivative, far from it! In many ways, Baudelaire's poetry is like Manet's paintings, in the sense that Baudelaire's verse blazed a trail for later movements like impressionism and symbolism (but one could never truly say that he fully belonged in either school of art). Just as one could not say that Baudelaire is fully a Romantic poet (a particular label, which I find extremely unfounded). In short, Baudelaire is Baudelaire and no one else. This is exactly what makes his verse so fresh and exciting. Even if you might find his topic matter a bit morose and depressing at times, his verse seldom slips into tropes or clichés and it always remains incredibly personal. Baudelaire is not just innovative for his times either, many of the themes of death/decay (without redemption), of secular love/sex, of urban filth/alienation and (especially) his poems on ennui are still common experiences for the modern individual. This is why, I think, Peter Gay (among many other writers on modernism) chose Baudelaire as the first modern artist. I also suggest reading Claude Pichois' biography of Baudelaire, as well as Baudelaire essay titled "The Painter of Modern Life" in order to enrich one's reading of Les Fleurs du Mal. | ||
for the love of depravity This book is a leftover from a long ago break-up with a French Athiest boyfriend many, many years ago... he was obsessed with Baudelaire and I wasn't. A bit raw for the sake of depravity, if you ask me. The "all women are vile" got a bit too repetitive for my taste. Even his moments of tenderness come across as cold and empty remorse, much like a child who gets scolded for being bad and then only apologizes because he was sorry he was caught. The one saving grace is that this Oxford version offers facing French text to compare language "differentials" . | ||
McGowan's Baudelaire Every translation of poetry is a compromise - on the one hand, the translator wants to "carry over" (the literal meaning of "translation") the poet's words and meaning exactly, but on the other hand, the translator also wants to create a poem that is as beautiful as the original! It is not an easy task. McGowan's 1993 translation, into rhyming and metrical English verse, leans to the "literal" end of this spectrum. He renders Baudelaire's words, images, and verse closely enough that the reader can get a pretty reliable idea of the original. Although this is a faithful translation that stays away from "poetic license" and flights of fancy, it still reads well in English. As an example of its acceptance in the world of Baudelaire studies, McGowan's translation is the one that is used by "The Cambridge Companion to Baudelaire" (ed. Rosemary Lloyd, 2005) for all quotations from Les Fleurs du Mal. If I could only have one English-language translation of Baudelaire in my library, this would be a good first choice. | ||
The lurid and arabesque world of Baudelaire Such a great price for a book with so much superb poetry! I really love Poe and the decadent poets and French Symbolists, and this book is a great introduction to the works of Baudelaire. I first picked this up in a library in Canada, then got a copy of it for myself when I returned back home. The cover art is nice too -- it seems to reflect that exotic world of poisons and deadly flowers that seem so representative of Baudelaire; however, there are also some very spiritual poems here that show how multifaceted he was as an artist. I highly recommend this book, if only for the price itself. | ||