The Flowers of Evil
“Jonathan Keeble’s excellent narration reminds us just how radical this work was and why parts of it were banned in France as late as 1949. Keeble restrains some of the passionate excesses that are part of Baudelaire’s radicalism, preserving the contrasts that let the heights of passion stand out. Passion can be low-key as well, and Keeble shows he understands that in the way he delivers a body of work ranging in subject from Satan to cats. A real oversight is the lack of credit on the cover to the translator, James McGowan, who did a fine job. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
AudioFile
Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
Sensual, macabre, joyous, and liberating, The Flowers of Evil, or, Les Fleurs du Mal, is a beautifully debauched reflection on dreams, sin, life, and death.
With subjects ranging from travel to drugs, sex to faith, sleep to contemplation, Baudelaire finds new beauty in the most sinister and corrupt of situations. His morbid and nightmarish Romanticism was completely unique: cynical and bleak, but also inspiring, lifted by magnificent imagery and melodious language.
The book was highly controversial upon its release, and Napoleon III’s government prosecuted Baudelaire for “an insult to public decency.” Six of the poems were banned until as recently as 1949.
Praise