Alma Classics The Flowers of Evil 惡之華 法英雙語對照版

“A single line of Baudelaire is worth more than all of life.” — Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

 

Judicially condemned in 1857 for being offensive to public morality, Les Fleurs du mal is now considered the most influential volume of poetry published in the nineteenth century. Torn between intense sensuality and profound spiritual yearning, and plagued by debt and illness, Charles Baudelaire transformed his experiences of Parisian life into a work of universal significance. Through his unflinching examination of the darker aspects and unconventional manifestations of sexuality, his pioneering portrayal of urban life, and his bold combination of lyrical and prosaic elements, Baudelaire inaugurated a new epoch in poetry and created a foundational text of modernism.

 

Known as the founder of French symbolism and often associated with the artistic movements of decadence and aestheticism in the late nineteenth century, Baudelaire was born in Paris. He lived a bohemian lifestyle, adopting the persona of a dandy—devoted to beauty and disdainfully aloof from the vulgar bourgeois world of materialism and commerce—as well as that of the flâneur, a frequent observer and consumer of city streets. Despite his lifestyle and artistic views, Baudelaire was a believer in original sin and felt deeply repelled by the commercialism of the modern world, which he viewed as a fallen realm.

 

Baudelaire is often credited with capturing the sordidness, sensuality, and corruption of urban life, which had a profound influence on modernist writers such as T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound. The poems in Les Fleurs du mal frequently break with tradition, utilizing suggestive images and unusual forms. They explore themes of decadence and eroticism, particularly focusing on suffering and its relationship to original sin, feelings of disgust toward evil and oneself, obsession with death, and the aspiration toward an ideal world. Baudelaire contracted syphilis and was paralyzed by a stroke before his death.

 

In general, the French symbolists, including Baudelaire and Stéphane Mallarmé, reacted against the explicit rationalism, materialism, and positivism of bourgeois society. Like the Romantics, they exalted the role of the poet and artist. Baudelaire’s ideas about beauty may have been inspired by the German philosopher Schelling, and from 1852 onward, he was also deeply influenced by Edgar Allan Poe, sharing his views on poetic autonomy and imagination. Baudelaire critiqued the mediocrity of the entire bourgeois value system and its political manifestation in democracy, while also believing in the natural fallenness of humankind, the autonomy of poetry, and the idea that poetry's aim is beauty.

 

Anthony Mortimer, already acclaimed for his masterful translations of Petrarch, Dante, and Villon, has produced a new version of Baudelaire’s work that not only respects the meaning and form of the original French but also stands as powerful poetry in English. This edition is presented in dual-language format, complete with additional material, notes, and a bibliography.

 

Features

• Edition : -
• Binding : Paperback
• ISBN : 9781847495747
• Publication Date : 2016/4/1

 

Materials & Care

• Imported