Les Fleurs du mal 179171 206070469 2008-04-16T18:21:29Z Midnightdreary 1777127 Added main section header {{otheruses}} '''''Les Fleurs du mal''''' (literal trans. "The Flowers of Evil") is a volume of [[France|French]] [[poetry]] by [[Charles Baudelaire]]. First published in [[1857]], it was important in the [[symbolism (arts)|symbolist]] and [[modernism|modernist]] movements. The subject matter of these poems deals with themes relating to decadence and eroticism. ==Overview== The initial publication of the book was arranged in five thematically segregated sections: *Spleen et Idéal (Spleen and Ideal) *Fleurs du mal (Flowers of Evil) *Révolte (Revolt) *Le Vin (Wine) *La Mort (Death) The foreword to the volume, blasphemously defining [[Satan]] as "[[Hermes Trismegistus|thrice-great]]" and calling boredom the worst of miseries, neatly sets the general tone of what is to follow: ''Si le viol, le poison, le poignard, l'incendie,''<br> ''N'ont pas encore brodé de leurs plaisants dessins''<br> ''Le canevas banal de nos piteux destins,''<br> ''C'est que notre âme, hélas! n'est pas assez hardie.''<br> :If rape and poison, dagger and burning,<br> :Have still not embroidered their pleasant designs<br> :On the banal canvas of our pitiable destinies,<br> :It's because our souls, alas, are not bold enough!<br> The preface concludes with the following malediction: ''C'est l'Ennui! —l'œil chargé d'un pleur involontaire,''<br> ''Il rêve d'échafauds en fumant son houka.''<br> ''Tu le connais, lecteur, ce monstre délicat,''<br> ''&mdash;Hypocrite lecteur,&mdash;mon semblable,&mdash;mon frère!''<br> :It's Ennui! — his eye brimming with spontaneous tear<br> :He dreams of the gallows in the haze of his hookah.<br> :You know him, reader, this delicate monster,<br> :Hypocritical reader, my likeness, my brother!<br> ''"Ennui" is left untranslated here, as "boredom" does not accurately portray Baudelaire's intended meaning. "Ennui" means a boredom so pronounced as to lead to a violent depression.'' The author and the publisher were prosecuted under the regime of the [[Second French Empire|Second Empire]] as an ''outrage aux bonnes mœurs'' (trans. "an insult to public decency"). As a consequence of this prosecution, Baudelaire was fined 300 [[franc]]s. Six poems from the work were suppressed and the ban on their publication was not lifted in [[France]] until [[1949]]. These poems were "Lesbos", "Femmes damnés (À la pâle clarté)" (or "Women Doomed (In the pale glimmer...)"), "Le Léthé" (or "Lethe"), "À celle qui est trop gaie" (or "To She Who Is Too Gay"), "Les Bijoux" (or "The Jewels"), and " Les "Métamorphoses du Vampire" (or "The Vampire's Metamorphoses"). These were later published in Brussels in a small volume entitled ''Les Épaves'' (''Scraps''). On the other hand, upon reading "The Swan" or "Le Cygne" from ''Les Fleurs du mal'', [[Victor Hugo]] announced that Baudelaire had created ''"un nouveau frisson"'' (a new shudder, a new thrill) in literature. In the wake of the prosecution a second edition was issued in [[1861]] which added 32 new poems, removed the six suppressed poems and added a new section entitled ''Tableaux Parisiens''. A posthumous third edition with a preface by [[Theophile Gautier|Théophile Gautier]] and including 14 previously unpublished poems was issued in [[1868]]. ==External links== * [http://www.charles-baudelaire.info Charles Baudelaire Info] – Information magazine about Charles Baudelaire * [http://www.charlesbaudelaire.org Charles Baudelaire International Association] * [[:s:fr:Les Fleurs du mal]]: complete work on French Wikisource *[http://baudelaire.litteratura.com/les_fleurs_du_mal.php Les Fleurs du mal: full online downloadable text] *{{gutenberg|no=6099|name=Les Fleurs du mal|language=French}} *[http://fleursdumal.org/ Fleursdumal.org], a collection of the various French editions and accompanying translations in English. [[Category:1857 books|Fleurs du mal]] [[Category:French poems]] [[ca:Les flors del mal]] [[da:Les Fleurs du Mal]] [[de:Les Fleurs du Mal]] [[es:Las flores del mal]] [[fr:Les Fleurs du mal]] [[it:I fiori del male]] [[he:פרחי הרע]] [[mk:Цвеќиња на злото]] [[ja:悪の華]] [[no:Ondskapens blomster]] [[pl:Kwiaty zła]] [[pt:Les fleurs du mal]] [[sk:Kvety zla]] [[fi:Pahan kukkia]] [[sv:Ondskans blommor]] [[zh:恶之花]]