Paris Spleen: Little Poems in Prose

Details

ISBN-10: 081957984X
ISBN-13: 9780819579843
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Publish Date: 04/07/2020
Dimensions: 8.50" L, 5.50" W, 0.30" H

Paris Spleen: Little Poems in Prose

byCharles Baudelaire
Translator: Keith Waldrop

Paperback

Price: $15.95

Overview

A modernist classic translated for the twenty-first century

Between 1855 and his death in 1867, Charles Baudelaire inaugurated a new–and in his own words “dangerous”–hybrid form in a series of prose poems known as Paris Spleen. Important and provocative, these fifty poems take the reader on a tour of 1850s Paris, through gleaming cafes and filthy side streets, revealing a metropolis on the eve of great change. In its deliberate fragmentation and merging of the lyrical with the sardonic, Le Spleen de Paris may be regarded as one of the earliest and most successful examples of a specifically urban writing, the textual equivalent of the city scenes of the Impressionists. In this compelling new translation, Keith Waldrop delivers the companion to his innovative translation of The Flowers of Evil. Here, Waldrop’s perfectly modulated mix releases the music, intensity, and dissonance in Baudelaire’s prose. The result is a powerful new re-imagining that is closer to Baudelaire’s own poetry than any previous English translation.

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Reviews

"Keith Waldrop's task as translator is challenging. ... He is capable of compression, successfully handling the text's moments of laconic satire (the wealthy drinking from 'glasses larger than their thirst').... Above all, he keeps faith with Baudelaire's overarching aim: to accommodate things, and people, out of place, in a language equally alienated."–Ben Morgan, Times Literary Supplement

"Baudelaire considered prose poetry a miracle genre. ... The present translation of Baudelaire's seminal work offers many advantages. ... (Waldrop) writes in clear, powerful English. And above all, he makes the right choices, those one would expect from an award-winning poet and seasoned translator.... Waldrop conveys the lyricism and satire of the original. His English mirrors the musicality of French. ... Essential."–C.B. Kerr, Choice

"Keith Waldrop's task as translator is challenging. ... He is capable of compression, successfully handling the text's moments of laconic satire (the wealthy drinking from 'glasses larger than their thirst'). Above all, he keeps faith with Baudelaire's overarching aim: to accommodate things, and people, out of place, in a language equally alienated."–Ben Morgan, Times Literary Supplement

"This is Baudelaire at the limit, having uncovered a new feeling that does indeed appear as a moral history, the private life in the public turn."–Joshua Clover, The Nation

More Reviews

Details

ISBN-10: 081957984X
ISBN-13: 9780819579843
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Publish Date: 04/07/2020
Dimensions: 8.50" L, 5.50" W, 0.30" H
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