The Flowers of Evil / Les Fleurs du Mal - Softcover

Baudelaire, Charles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1420951181 ISBN 13: 9781420951189

Publisher: Digireads.com, 2015

Synopsis

Upon its original publication in 1857 Charles Baudelaire’s “Les Fleurs du Mal” or “The Flowers of Evil” was embroiled in controversy. Within a month of its publication the French authorities brought an action against the author and the book’s publisher claiming that the work was an insult to public decency. Eventually the French courts would acknowledge the literary merit of Baudelaire’s work but ordered that six poems in particular should be banned from subsequent publication. The notoriety caused by this scandal would ultimately work in the author’s favor causing the initial publication to sell out, thus prompting the publication of another edition. The second edition was published in 1861, it included an additional thirty-five poems, with the exclusion of the six poems censored by the French government. In this volume we reproduce that 1861 edition along with the six censored poems in an English translation by William Aggeler. Rich with symbolism, “The Flowers of Evil” is rightly considered a classic of the modernist literary movement. Its themes of decadence and eroticism seek to exhibit Baudelaire’s criticism of the Parisian society of his time. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper and includes an introduction by Frank Pearce Sturm.

About this title

About the Author:

William F. Aggeler taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for thirty years. He edited an edition of "Les Fleurs du mal" and wrote a number of articles on Baudelaire.

About this edition

• Publisher: Digireads.com
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1420951181
• ISBN 13: 9781420951189
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 140