About
Charles-Pierre Baudelaire (1821-1867) is a major figure in French poetry, considered a bridge between Romanticism and modernism. His collection Les Fleurs du mal (1857) sparked an obscenity trial, marking literary history. A renowned translator of Edgar Allan Poe, he also innovated with the prose poems of Le Spleen de Paris. An influential art critic, he theorized the flâneur in The Painter of Modern Life. His life marked by bohemianism and illness nourished a work exploring beauty, evil, and ennui.
* 1821-04-09 — † 1867-08-28
Major works
- Les Fleurs du mal (1857)poetry collection
- Les Paradis artificiels (1860)essay
- Le Peintre de la vie moderne (1863)essay
- Le Spleen de Paris (1869)prose poetry collection
- Histoires extraordinaires (1856)translation
Key milestones
- 1857Publication of Les Fleurs du mal, followed by an obscenity trial and conviction.
- 1861Second edition of Les Fleurs du mal, enlarged with the section 'Tableaux parisiens'.
- 1866Suffered several strokes in Belgium, was brought back to Paris where he died in 1867.
Themes
evil and beautyennui and spleenmodernity and urban lifethe ideal and dreamintoxication and artificial paradis
Sources: britannica.com · data.bnf.fr · oxfordreference.com