Charles Baudelaire

"Baudelaire" redirects here. For the characters from A Series of Unfortunate Events, see Violet Baudelaire, Klaus Baudelaire and Sunny Baudelaire.

Charles Pierre Baudelaire (April 9, 1821 – August 31, 1867) was one of the most influential French poets of the nineteenth century. He was also an important critic and translator.

Life and work

Baudelaire was born in Paris. His father, a senior civil servant and an amateur artist, died in 1827, and in the following year his mother married a lieutenant colonel named Aupick, who later became a French ambassador to various courts. Baudelaire was educated in Lyon and at the Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris. On gaining his degree in 1839 he decided to embark upon a literary career, and for the next two years led a somewhat irregular life. It is believed he contracted syphilis about this time. To straighten him out, his guardians, in 1841, sent him on a voyage to India. When he returned to Paris, after less than a year's absence, he was of age; but in a year or two his extravagance threatened to exhaust his small inheritance, and his family obtained a decree to place his property in trust. It is in this period that he met Jeanne Duval, who was to become his longest romantic association.

His art reviews of 1845 and 1846 attracted immediate attention for the boldness with which he propounded his views: many of his critical opinions were novel in their time, but have since been generally accepted. He took part with the revolutionaries in 1848, and for some years was interested in republican politics, but his political convictions spanned the anarchism of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the history of the Raison d'Ėtat of Giuseppe Ferrari, and ultramontane critique of liberalism of Joseph de Maistre. Baudelaire was a slow and fastidious worker, and it was not until 1857 that he produced his first and most famous volume of poems, Les Fleurs du mal ("The Flowers of Evil"). Some of these had already appeared in the Revue des deux mondes, when they were published by Baudelaire's friend Auguste Poulet Malassis, who had inherited a printing business at Alençon. The poems found a small but appreciative audience, but greater public attention was given to their subject matter. The principal themes of sex and death were considered scandalous, and the book became a by-word for unwholesomeness among mainstream critics of the day. Baudelaire, his publisher, and the printer were successfully prosecuted for creating an offense against public morals. In the poem "Au lecteur" ("To the Reader") that prefaces Les fleurs du mal, Baudelaire accuses his readers of hypocrisy and of being as guilty of sins and lies as the poet:

... If rape or arson, poison, or the knife

Has wove no pleasing patterns in the stuff

Of this drab canvas we accept as life—

It is because we are not bold enough!

(Roy Campbell's translation)

Six of the poems were suppressed, but printed later as Les Épaves ("The Wrecks") (Brussels, 1866). Another edition of Les fleurs du mal, without these poems, but with considerable additions, appeared in 1861.

His other works include Petits Poèmes en prose ("Small Prose poems"); a series of art reviews published in the Pays, Exposition universelle ("Country, World Fair"); studies on Gustave Flaubert (in Lartisge, October 18, 1857); on Théophile Gautier (Revue contemporaine, September, 1858); various articles contributed to Eugene Crepet's Poètes francais; Les Paradis artificiels: opium et haschisch ("French poets; Artificial Paradises: opium and hashish") (1860); and Un Dernier Chapitre de l'histoire des oeuvres de Balzac ("A Final Chapter of the history of works of Balzac") (1880), originally an article entitled "Comment on paye ses dettes quand on a du génie" ("How his debts are paid when one has genius"), in which his criticism turns against his friends Honoré de Balzac, Théophile Gautier, and Gérard de Nerval.

Baudelaire had learned English in his childhood, and Gothic novels, such as Lewis's The Monk, became some of his favorite reading matter. In 1846 and 1847 he became acquainted with the works of Edgar Allan Poe, in which he found tales and poems which had, he claimed, long existed in his own brain but never taken shape. From this time till 1865 he was largely occupied with his translated versions of Poe's works, which were widely praised. These were published as Histoires extraordinaires ("Extraordinary stories") (1852), Nouvelles histoires extraordinaires ("New extraordinary stories") (1857), Aventures d'Arthur Gordon Pym (see The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym), Eureka, and Histoires grotesques et sérieuses ("Grotesque and serious stories") (1865). Two essays on Poe are to be found in his Oeuvres complètes ("Complete works") (vols. v. and vi.).

Meanwhile his financial difficulties increased, particularly after his publisher Poulet Malassis went bankrupt in 1861, and in 1864 he left Paris for Belgium, partly in the hope of selling the rights to his works. For many years he had a long-standing relationship with a bi-racial woman, Jeanne Duval, whom he helped to the end of his life. He had recourse to opium, and in Brussels he began to drink to excess. He suffered a massive stroke in 1866 and paralysis followed, and the last two years of his life were spent in "maisons de santé" in Brussels and in Paris, where he died on August 31, 1867. Many of his works were published posthumously.

He is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris.

Influence

Baudelaire is one of the most famous French poets and Decadent authors, but before the 20th century, his work was generally considered controversial, difficult, if not subversive. He is famous for his criticism of "usefulness" in poetry, and thought that poetry is only acceptable in a form of pure, superior beauty, never to teach something or to convey a political message (like Victor Hugo or La Fontaine did).

He is now considered as one of the most important precursors of 20th century literature. His poetry and, to a lesser extent, his literary criticism, have had a very deep influence on the following generations of writers, both in France and abroad, which can still be felt today.

Trivia

The title of Henri Dutilleux' cello concerto "Tout un Monde Lointain" (1970) comes from Baudelaire's poem "La Chevelure". Furthermore, each of the work's five movements is preceded by a quotation from various Baudelaire poems.

He was possibly the inspiration for the Baudelaire characters in Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events."

Baudelaire is referenced in the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Tear," from the band's 2002 album, By The Way

French Black Metal musician, Neige, used a poem by Baudelaire on his main band Alcest's 2005 EP, "Le Secret". The poem in question (and title of the song) was "Elevation". Neige also used poems from Baudelaire on his contributions to Mortifera's 2004 album, "Vastiia Tenebrd Mortifera" ("Le Revenant" and "Ciel Brouille"). Baudelaire's poem "Spleen" appears on French Black Metal band Peste Noire's 2002 demo "Macabre Transcendance". Neige was part of the band at this time and likely responsible for this song.

Ville Valo (vocalist and songwriter for the Finnish alternative rock band HIM) has cited Baudelaire as a major influence on his writing.

Goldfrapp, a British band, makes a reference to Baudelaire in their hit song "Ooh La La".

Vanden Plas, a German progressive metal band, referenced toward Baudelaire in their song "Beyond Daylight" from their album with the same title.

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have a song entitled "Baudelaire" on their album Source Tags & Codes.

Stars (band) signed the thank you section of their album Set Yourself on Fire "luxe, calme et volupté." a reference to Baudelaire's poem "Invitation Au Voyage."

Dead Can Dance, an originally Australian band (from the 4AD record label) have a song titled "Anywhere Out of the World" with lyrics that fit very well with Baudelaire's poem of the same name. Their concept album 'Spleen and Ideal' is a direct reference, describing well the mood of melancholy and entrapment between time and remorse the French call 'spleen.'

Baudelaire is referenced in Edward Albee's one act play The Zoo Story. The character Jerry asks Peter who his favorite authors are: J.P. Marquand or Baudelaire? Peter responds, "Baudelaire ^* is by far the finer of the two."

Baudelaire is referenced in Eugene O'Neill's play Long Day's Journey Into Night. The character Edmund quotes the poem "Epilogue" and another prose poem.

American rock band AFI quotes Sir John Squire's translation of Baudelaire's poem "De Profundis Clamavi" on the song "Midnight Sun," a hidden track on their album Black Sails in the Sunset.

The Russian Futurists have a song entitled "You Big Brown Eyes and My Big Broke Heart", proclaiming "we're part Baudelaire, and part without a care, living in despair".

Baudelaire is referenced in Leroi Jones's play "Dutchman". The character Clay claims he once considered himself Baudelaire.

Baudelaire is referenced in nine consecutive poems in Richard Brautigan's book, The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster.

Baudelaire is repeatedly referenced as a main source of influence for the character of Norval in Jeffrey Moore's novel The Memory Artists

Bibliography

Salon de 1845, 1845
Salon de 1846, 1846
La Fanfarlo, 1847
Les Fleurs du mal, 1857
Les paradis artificiels, 1860
Réflexions sur Quelques-uns de mes Contemporains, 1861
Le Peintre de la Vie Moderne, 1863
Curiosités Esthétiques, 1868
L'art romantique, 1868
Le Spleen de Paris/Petits Poémes en Prose, 1869
Oeuvres Posthumes et Correspondance Générale, 1887-1907
Fusées, 1897
Mon Coeur Mis à Nu, 1897
Oeuvres Complètes, 1922-53 (19 vols.)
Mirror of Art, 1955
The Essence of Laughter, 1956
Curiosités Esthétiques, 1962
The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays, 1964
Baudelaire as a Literary Critic, 1964
Arts in Paris 1845-1862, 1965
Selected Writings on Art and Artist, 1972
Selected Letters of Charles Baudelaire, 1986
Critique d'art; Critique musicale, 1992

Online texts

in French

in English

External links

FleursDuMal.org Definitive online presentation of Fleurs du mal, featuring the original French alongside multiple English translations
A large site in English
A comprehensive website in French
Baudelaire's Paris - An ebook literary tour with suggested poems in English and French at each location
larvatus' LiveJournal Memorable baudelaire Entries A work in progress, in English, translating, interpreting, and commenting prose poems and critical writings by Baudelaire, with references and links to other resources
Poetes.com

1821 births | 1867 deaths

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