Les Fleurs du mal  

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Les Fleurs du mal (literal trans. "The Flowers of Evil") is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. The poems represented the near-totality of his poetic output since 1840. First published in 1857, the poems were of influence to the symbolists and modernists. Their subject matter deals with themes relating to decadence and eroticism. Six of the poems (numbers 20, 30, 39, 80, 81 et 87 of the first edition) were banned in France following an obscenity trial on August 20, 1857. Ernest Pinard, the magistrate who ruled the case had also been involved in the Madame Bovary trial. The six suppressed poems were printed later as Les Épaves.

Background

The Flowers of Evil

Baudelaire was a slow and fastidious worker, often sidetracked by indolence, emotional distress and illness, and it was not until 1857 that he published his first and most famous volume of poems, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil). Some of these poems had already appeared in the Revue des deux mondes (Review of Two Worlds), when they were published by Baudelaire's friend Auguste Poulet Malassis.

The poems found a small, appreciative audience, but greater public attention was given to their subject matter. The effect on fellow artists was, as Théodore de Banville stated, "immense, prodigious, unexpected, mingled with admiration and with some indefinable anxious fear". Flaubert, recently attacked in a similar fashion for Madame Bovary (and acquitted), was impressed and wrote to Baudelaire: "You have found a way to rejuvenate Romanticism... You are as unyielding as marble, and as penetrating as an English mist".

The principal themes of sex and death were considered scandalous. He also touched on lesbianism, sacred and profane love, metamorphosis, melancholy, the corruption of the city, lost innocence, the oppressiveness of living, and wine. Notable in some poems is Baudelaire's use of imagery of the sense of smell and of fragrances, which is used to evoke feelings of nostalgia and past intimacy.

The book, however, quickly became a byword for unwholesomeness among mainstream critics of the day. Some critics called a few of the poems "masterpieces of passion, art and poetry" but other poems were deemed to merit no less than legal action to suppress them. J. Habas writing in Le Figaro, led the charge against Baudelaire, writing: "Everything in it which is not hideous is incomprehensible, everything one understands is putrid". Then Baudelaire responded to the outcry, in a prophetic letter to his mother:

"You know that I have always considered that literature and the arts pursue an aim independent of morality. Beauty of conception and style is enough for me. But this book, whose title (Fleurs du mal) says everything, is clad, as you will see, in a cold and sinister beauty. It was created with rage and patience. Besides, the proof of its positive worth is in all the ill that they speak of it. The book enrages people. Moreover, since I was terrified myself of the horror that I should inspire, I cut out a third from the proofs. They deny me everything, the spirit of invention and even the knowledge of the French language. I don't care a rap about all these imbeciles, and I know that this book, with its virtues and its faults, will make its way in the memory of the lettered public, beside the best poems of V. Hugo, Th. Gautier and even Byron."

Baudelaire, his publisher and the printer were successfully prosecuted for creating an offense against public morals. They were fined but Baudelaire was not imprisoned. 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. Many notables rallied behind Baudelaire and condemned the sentence. Victor Hugo wrote to him: "Your fleurs du mal shine and dazzle like stars... I applaud your vigorous spirit with all my might". Baudelaire did not appeal the judgment but his fine was reduced. Nearly 100 years later, on May 11, 1949, Baudelaire was vindicated, the judgment officially reversed, and the six banned poems reinstated in France.

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)

Initial publication

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 "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,
N'ont pas encore brodé de leurs plaisants dessins
Le canevas banal de nos piteux destins,
C'est que notre âme, hélas! n'est pas assez hardie.

If rape and poison, dagger and burning,

Have still not embroidered their pleasant designs

On the banal canvas of our pitiable destinies,

It's because our souls, alas, are not bold enough!

The preface concludes with the following malediction:

C'est l'Ennui! —l'œil chargé d'un pleur involontaire,
Il rêve d'échafauds en fumant son houka.
Tu le connais, lecteur, ce monstre délicat,
—Hypocrite lecteur,—mon semblable,—mon frère!

It's Ennui! — his eye brimming with spontaneous tear

He dreams of the gallows in the haze of his hookah.

You know him, reader, this delicate monster,

Hypocritical reader, my likeness, my brother!

"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 Empire as an outrage aux bonnes mœurs (trans. "an insult to public decency"). As a consequence of this prosecution, Baudelaire was fined 300 francs. 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.

Les Fleurs du mal 1857 Edition[1]

• Dédicace / Dedication
• Au Lecteur / To the Reader
  Spleen et ideal / Spleen and Ideal
  

1. Bénédiction / Benediction
2. Le Soleil / The Sun
3. Élévation / Elevation
4. Correspondances / Correspondences
5. J’aime le souvenir de ces époques nues… / I love the memory of those naked epochs…
6. Les Phares / The Beacons
7. La Muse malade / The Sick Muse
8. La Muse vénale / The Venal Muse
9. Le Mauvais Moine/ The Bad Monk
10. L’Ennemi / The Enemy
11. Le Guignon / Bad Luck
12. La Vie antérieure / A Former Life
13. Bohémiens en voyage / Traveling Gypsies
14. L’Homme et la mer / Man and the Sea
15. Don Juan aux enfers / Don Juan in Hell
16. Châtiment de l’orgueil / Punishment of Pride
17. La Beauté / Beauty
18. L’Idéal / The Ideal
19. La Géante / The Giantess
20. Les Bijoux / The Jewels
21. Parfum exotique / Exotic Perfume
22. Je t’adore à l’égal de la voûte nocturne… / I adore you as much as the nocturnal vault…
23. Tu mettrais l’univers entier dans ta ruelle… / You would take the entire world to bed with you…
24. Sed non satiata / Never Satisfied
25. Avec ses vêtements ondoyants et nacrés… / With her pearly undulating dresses…
26. Le Serpent qui danse/The Dancing Serpent
27. Une Charogne / A Carcass
28. De profundis clamavi / From the Depths I Cried
29. Le Vampire / The Vampire
30. Le Léthé / Lethe
31. Une nuit que j’étais près d’une affreuse Juive… / One night when I lay beside a frightful Jewess…
32. Remords posthume / Posthumous Remorse
33. Le Chat / The Cat
34. Le Balcon / The Balcony
35. Je te donne ces vers afin que si mon nom… / I give you these verses so if my name…
36. Tout entière / All Together
37. Que diras-tu ce soir, pauvre âme solitaire… / What will you say tonight, poor solitary soul…
38. Le Flambeau vivant / The Living Torch
39. À celle qui est trop gaie / To She Who Is Too Gay
40. Réversibilité / Reversibility
41. Confession / Confession
42. L’Aube spirituelle / Spiritual Dawn
43. Harmonie du soir / Evening Harmony
44. Le Flacon / The Perfume Flask
45. Le Poison / Poison
46. Ciel brouillé / Cloudy Sky
47. Le Chat / The Cat
48. Le Beau navire / The Beautiful Ship
49. L’Invitation au voyage / Invitation to the Voyage
50. L’Irréparable / The Irreparable
51. Causerie / Conversation
52. L'Héautontimorouménos / The Self-Tormenter
53. Franciscae meae laudes / In Praise of My Frances
54. À une dame créole / To a Creole Lady
55. Moesta et errabunda / Grieving and Wandering
56. Les Chats / The Cats
57. Les Hiboux / The Owls
58. La Cloche fêlée / The Broken Clock
59. Spleen (Pluviôse, irrité…) / Spleen (Pluvius, irritated…)
60. Spleen (J’ai plus de souvenirs…) / Spleen (I have more memories…)
61. Spleen (Je suis comme le roi…) / Spleen (I’m like the king…)
62. Spleen (Quand le ciel bas et lourd…) / Spleen (When the low heavy sky…)
63. Brumes et pluies / Mists and Rains
64. L’Irremédiable / The Irremediable
65. À une mendiante rousse / To a Mendicant Redhead
66. Le Jeu / Gambling
67. Le Crépuscule du soir / Evening Crepuscule
68. Le Crépuscule du matin / Morning Crepuscule
69. La servante au grand cœur dont vous étiez jalouse… / The kind-hearted servant of whom you were jealous…
70. Je n’ai pas oublié, voisine de la ville… / I have not forgotten, near the city…
71. Le Tonneau de la haine / The Cask of Hatred
72. Le Revenant / The Ghost
73. Le Mort joyeux / The Grateful Dead
74. Sépulture / Sepulchre
75. Tristesses de la lune / Sorrows of the Moon
76. La Musique / Music
77. La Pipe / The Pipe
    Fleurs du mal / Flowers of Evil
    
78. La Déstruction / Destruction
79. Une Martyre / A Martyr
80. Lesbos / Lesbos
81. Femmes damnées (À la pâle clarté…) / Women Doomed (In the pale glimmer…)
82. Femmes damnés (Comme un bétail pensif…) / Women Doomed (Like pensive cattle…)
83. Les Deux Bonnes Soeurs / The Two Good Sisters
84. La Fontaine du sang / The Fountain of Blood
85. Allégorie / Allegory
86. La Béatrice / Beatrice
87. The Vampire’s Metamorphoses / Les Métamorphoses du vampire
88. Un Voyage à Cythère / A Voyage to Cythera
89. L’Amour et le crane / Love and the Skull
    Révolte / Revolt
    
90. Le Reniement de saint Pierre / The Denial of Saint Peter
91. Abel et Caïn / Abel and Cain
92. Les Litanies de Satan / The Litanies of Satan
    Le Vin / Wine
    
93. L’Âme du vin / The Soul of Wine
94. Le Vin des chiffonniers / The Rag-Picker’s Wine
95. Le Vin de l’assassin / The Murderer’s Wine
96. Le Vin du solitaire / The Lonely Man’s Wine
97. Le Vin des amants / The Lovers’ Wine
    La Mort / Death
    
98. La Mort des amants / The Death of Lovers
99. La Mort des pauvres / The Death of the Poor
100. La Mort des artistes / The Death of Artists

Publication history

On June 1 1855, La Revue des Deux Mondes publishes under the title Fleurs du mal, eighteen poems by Baudelaire.

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 Théophile Gautier and including 14 previously unpublished poems was issued in 1868.

On February 4 of 1857, Baudelaire sends some of its poems to his Belgian publisher Auguste Poulet-Malassis. On April 20, the Revue française publishes nine poems. The first edition is of 300 copies, put on sale on June 25. Le Moniteur publishes on July 14 an article by Édouard Thierry.

Illustrators

A selection of illustrators who've illustrated The Flowers:

Carlo Farneti, George-Roux, Grékoff, Hallman, Hauterives, Hofer, Janserge, Labocceta, Latour, Legrand, Lemagny, Lemengeot, Leroy, Manceaux, Marcel-Béronn, Mauplot, Monnier, Pipard, Redon, Riche, Rochegrosse, Rochgrosse, Rodin, Rodin (facs), Rops, Roubille, Saint-André, Sala, Schwabe, Serré, Spilimbergo, Trémois, Tzolakis, van Dongen [2]

Translations

English

English-language translations of Les Fleurs du Mal include:

• The Flowers of Evil in Poems of Charles Baudelaire, translated by Frank Pearce Sturm (1906).
• Blossoms of Evil in Poems and Baudelaire Flowers, translated by John Collings Squire (1909).
• Flowers of Evil, translated by Lewis Piaget Shanks (1931).
• James Elroy Flecker
• Cyril Scott

See also

• La femme dans les Fleurs du mal
• List of Baudelaire poems
• The Fleurs du mal trial
• Théophile Gautier's preface to Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal
• Everything in it which is not hideous is incomprehensible, everything one understands is putrid