About this title: Many of the poems in this collection, published in 1857, were banned for indecency by the French government. A major 19th-century text and an inspiration to the Symbolist movement, THE FLOWERS OF EVIL evokes the decay and debauchery of the Parisian underworld, expressing both the seduction and repulsion of death. Baudelaire implicates the reader ...
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Description: Very good. Title page may be missing or torn. UNREAD but may have a crease or mark or minor imperfections. In stock-Sent fast from British booksellers. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780192829726ISBN:0192829726
Description: Near Fine. No Jacket (as issued) 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Translated by James McGowan, Introduction by Jonathan Culler, parallel French text. Spine unbroken, covers crisp, interior clean & tight-looks unread. read more
Description: Poor. No dust jacket. weak spine/spine tears. Text in English, French. xxiii, 450 p. 22 cm. A New Directions book.. . selected and editied by Mathews read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Washington Square Press, New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. 1962 Washington Square Press paperback. NOT EX LIB! A few notes, mildly tanned pages, signed by previous owner, barely creased spine, moderate edgewear, some cover scuffing. 233 p. Translated and presented on pages facing the original French text. read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN-13:9780192835451ISBN:0192835459
Description: Good. 0192835459 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780199535583ISBN:0199535582
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 464 pages. The flowers of evil, which t. s. eliot called the greatest example of modern poetry in any language, shocked the literary world of ni*n*e*t*eenth century france with its outspoken portrayal of lesbian love, its linking sexuality and death, its unremitting irony, and its unflinching celebration of the seamy side of urban life. the volume was seized by the police, and baudelaire and his published were put on trial for offence to public decency. six offending poems ... read more
Description: Good. Good. No dust jacket. Slight edge wear on green cloth cover, rubbed off gilt lettering on spine, tight binding, clean text. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
ISBN-13:9780811211178ISBN:0811211177
Description: Good. Light shelving wear with minimal damage to cover and bindings. Pages show minor use. Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read. Recycle and Reuse! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780199535583ISBN:0199535582
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 196x129 mm. (464) the flowers of evil, which t. s. eliot called the greatest example of modern poetry in any language, shocked the literary world of ni*n*e*t*eenth century france with its outspoken portrayal of lesbian love, its linking sexuality and death, its unremitting irony, and its unflinching celebration of the seamy side of urban life. the volume was seized by the police, and baudelaire and his published were put on trial for offence to public decency. six offending ... read more
Description: Very Good. 1998 Paperback. Orders usually ship on or before next business day. May have highlighting. We send best copy available. read more
What can you say about a person whose very surname has become a synonym for debauchery, for louche and antisocial behavior?
Many people try to live their lives to schock others, at one phase or another of their youth, especially. But for Baudelaire, all this came naturallly. No affectation, as far as I can tell.
I wonder a bit about poeple these days who have the Baudelaire name in France. Do they get tired of explaining all of it....
"My love of literature began at a young age, in part, with French literature. I loved translations of Alexander Dumas and when I grew past romantic adventures, I was entranced at the clinical realist precision of Balzac. I briefly dated a French woman in New York City who begged me to move with her to Marseilles where I would attend the University of Marseilles (she had magically already procured an application) at the expense of French taxpayers (what liberals call "universal education") so long as I learned to speak French in 9 months time. I never left the States and never learned French.
However, if I did learn French, it would be mainly to read Baudelaire in the original. I doubt many readers picking this book up will be aware of the atom bomb it dropped on Paris when it was published. Reading it now it may still sound fresh, irreverent, decadent, and Satanic, but you have to multiply that by a factor of 100 to get the 19th century reaction. To add some perspective, this decadent evil little book of poems dealing with lesbianism, artifice, death, a dog corpse festering and open like the legs of a prostitute...this was circa the Civil War! Baudelaire was lucky he was only fined for "indecency" but a few of the poems were outlawed in France until (are you setting down?) 1949!
I don't want to discuss the poems or do explications of them. Any serious poet should own this book. Baudelaire was a masterful poet, a brilliant critic, he was THE reason Edgar Allen Poe was introduced to the Continent via his translations, and he virtually threw his artistic back out writing these poems. He would never surpass them and would spend years editing the volume and perhaps basking in the rays of their infamy. Baudelaire is a prime example of quality over quantity. I will take Les Fleurs Du Mal over a dozen books of poetry from a lesser poet and he stands head and shoulders over his contemporaries. The French Symbolists were nebulous...rather like a Romantic poet who smoked too much opium. Baudelaire on the other hand, had a keen mind sharp as a knife and wrote verse that was outrageous in its subject matter as it is technically brilliant. You have the tenants of symbolism, the mysterious music of Nature, the sublime, the absinthe-fueled hallucinations, but they are there in Baudelaire with a wicked energy. There are a handful of books in modern times that have shocked. Ulysses, Tropic of Cancer, a few others. One has to read Les Fleurs Du Mal with the understanding that it is among their company."
"What can i say? One of the greats that hits you right in the stomach. something that everyone can go back to. Was one of the originals that made me REALLY try and read/learn french. At least poetry. Have to disagree with people who say hes too dark. I feel that hes just not afraid to addres anything. Within that addres theres the strength to touch: vulnerability, sexuality, the physical body, etc. Isnt true passion seen with the hands; felt with the mouth?"
"I was so taken by this book that I memorized whole passages to repeat if only to myself at various times of the day. As I recall, my friends began to think I was mentally ill. Nevertheless, the power of this book was immense on my life as a college junior, I think, and it caused me to fall in love with everything that was French, cynical and wearing a beret, much like a Parisian waiter on his day off. I actually picked this book up because I loved the name, but it also began a long term love affair not only with Baudelaire, but Rimbaud and especially Verlaine. These poets literally opened up a new level of excitement in me for the depth at which the human spirit could both soar and sink, if one were truly willing to be led. I can still smell the acrid Gauloises cigarettes I smoked, but maybe that was just my imagination walking by the Seine so late at night and thinking these wonderful thoughts!"
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