Baudelaire as a Literary Critic: Selected Essays

The first collection in English of all the literary essays of one of the most lucid critics of the nineteenth century. In an introduction and in prefatory notes to each essay, the editors also provide a detailed analysis of Baudelaire's aesthetic. "It is impossible for a poet not to contain within himself a critic. Therefore the reader will not be surprised that I consider the poet as the best of all critics." Readers of Baudelaire's critical essays will surely agree as far as Baudelaire himself is concerned; the author of Les Fleurs du Mal is today recognized as one of the most lucid critics of the nineteenth century and the father of modern aesthetics. Not only was he discerning enough to recognize and define the genius of such artists as Flaubert, Poe, and Hugo, but he also succeeded in discovering many important principles underlying artistic expression and in formulating a general philosophy of criticism that has been influential in both the study and creation of modern art. This book makes available for the first time in English all of Baudelaire's literary essays, including his famous "Reflections of Some of My Contemporaries" and his pioneering studies of Madame Bovary and Les Miserables . Regardless of the writer under consideration, every essay contains penetrating observations and challenging ideas to excite the reader's thought and stimulate his imagination. The superbly readable translations and the detailed analysis of Baudelaire's aesthetic contained in the translators' introduction and prefatory notes to the essays will make this book a fine introduction to Baudelaire for general readers as well as a welcome and valuable reference work for scholars.