Flowers of Evil
288
Flowers of Evil
288eBook
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Overview
Millay and Dillon, while respectful of the spirit of the originals, lay claim to them as to a rightful inheritance, setting Baudelaire’s flowing lines to the music of English. The result is one of the most persuasive renditions of the French poet’s opulence, his tortured consciousness, and his troubling sensuality, as well as an impressive reimagining of his rhymes and rhythms on a par with Marianne Moore’s La Fontaine or Richard Wilbur’s Molière.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781681378299 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | New York Review Books |
| Publication date: | 05/21/2024 |
| Sold by: | Penguin Random House Publisher Services |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 288 |
| File size: | 517 KB |
About the Author
George Dillon (1906–1968), born in Jacksonville, Florida, was raised in Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. At a poetry reading he attended while a student at the University of Chicago, he met Edna St. Vincent Millay; the two soon became lovers and collaborators. His book The Flowering Stone (a series of poems revolving around their relationship) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. He was the editor of Poetry magazine from 1937 to 1949, simultaneously serving in the US Army Signal Corps during World War II. In addition to his collaboration with Millay on Flowers of Evil, he translated three plays by Racine.
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) was born in Rockland, Maine, and spent much of her childhood moving from town to town with her two sisters and their single mother, a woman devoted to music and literature. “Vincent,” as Millay called herself, won early fame as a gifted poet and outspoken feminist, and in 1923 she became the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Among her collections are Second April, Fatal Interview (a sonnet sequence in part about her affair with George Dillon), and The Buck in the Snow. After being severely injured in a car accident in 1936, she was more and more confined to her home in Austerlitz, New York, where she lived with her husband, Eugen Jan Boissevain, until his death in 1949.
Read an Excerpt
INTRODUCTION The modern literary spirit was born out of the measured angles so carefully calculated by Laclos. He was the first element discovered by Baudelaire, who was a refined and reasonable explorer from a privileged background, but whose views on modern life contained a particular madness. Laclos delighted in inspiring the corrupt bubbles that rose from the strange and rich literary mud of the Revolution. Like Diderot, Laclos was the intellectual son of Richardson and Rousseau, and his work was continued by Sade, Restif, Nerciat - some of the most notable philosophical storytellers of the late 18th century. Most of them, in fact, contained the seeds of the modern spirit, and they were poised to create a triumphant new era for arts and letters. During this nauseating and often brilliant era of Revolution, Baudelaire mingled his spiritualistic poison with the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, a strange American, who had composed, in the poetic field, work which was as disturbing and as marvellous as the work of Laclos. Baudelaire then is the son of Laclos and Poe. One can easily untangle the influence that each exerted on Baudelaire's prophetic mind and on his work, both so full of originality. As of this year, 1917, when his work enters the public domain, we can not only place him in the front rank of the great French poets, but also award him a place alongside the greatest of universal poets. The evidence for the influence of the cynical writers of the Revolution on Les Fleurs du Mal can be seen everywhere in Baudelaire's correspondence and in his notes. When he decided to translate and adapt Poe's works, strangely, he found a higher lyricism and moral feeling than he had thought was present in the writings of the marvellous Baltimore drunkard and his prohibited readings. In the novelists of the Revolution, he had discovered the importance of the question of sex. From the Anglo-Saxons of the same era, such as de Quincey and Poe, Baudelaire had learned that there were artificial paradises. Their methodical exploration - supported by Reason, the revolutionary goddess - enabled him to reach the lyrical heights towards which the mad American predicants had directed Poe, their contemporary. But Reason blinded him, and he abandoned it as soon as he had reached the heights. Baudelaire then is the son of Laclos and Edgar Allan Poe, but a son who is blind and insane...
Table of Contents
Translator's IntroductionThe Flowers of EvilDedicationTo the ReaderSpleen and IdealBenedictionThe AlbatrossElevationCorrespondences"I like to bring to mind . . ."Beacon Lights Sick MuseMercenary MuseThe Bad MonkThe EnemyBad LuckThe Life BeforeGypsy TravelersMan and SeaDon Juan in HellPride PunishedBeautyThe IdealGiantessThe MaskHymn to BeautyExotic PerfumeHair"I adore you . . .""You would take the whole universe . . ."Sed Non Satiata"In her flowing pearly garments . . ."Dancing SerpentCarrionDe Profundis ClamaviVampire"One night while I lay . . ."Posthumous RemorseThe CatDuelThe BalconyThe PossessedA Phantom"I give you these verses . . ."Semper EademAltogether"What will you say this evening . . ."Living TorchReversibilityConfessionSpiritual DawnEvening's HarmonyFlaskPoisonl Sky in ConfusionCatThe Fine-looking ShipInvitation to the VoyageThe IrreparableConversationAutumn SongTo a MadonnaAfternoon SongSisinaFranciscæ Meæ LaudesTo a Creole LadyMoesta et ErrabundaRevenantAutumn SonnetThe Sorrowing MoonCats OwlsThe PipeMusicBurialA Fantasy PrintDead Man GladThe Vessel of HateThe Cracked BellSpleenSpleenSpleenSpleenObsessionThe Taste for NothingAlchemy of PainSympathetic HorrorHeautontimoroumenosBeyond RemedyThe ClockParisian ScenesLandscapeThe SunTo a Redheaded Beggar GirlThe SwanThe Seven Old MenThe Little Old WomenThe BlindTo a Woman Passing ByThe Skeleton LaborerEvening TwilightGamblingDanse MacabreLove of a Lie"I have not forgotten . . .""The big-hearted servant . . ."Fog, RainParis DreamMorning TwilightWineThe Soul of the WineThe Ragpicker's WineThe Assassin's WineThe Wine of the SolitaryThe Wine of LoversFlowers of EvilDestructionA MartyrWomen DamnedThe Two Good SistersThe Fountain of BloodAllegoryHis BeatriceA Voyage to CytheraLove and the SkullRevoltSaint Peter's DenialAbel and CainLitanies of SatanDeathThe Death of LoversDeath of the PoorThe Death of ArtistsEnd of DayDream of a Curious CharacterThe VoyageThe Banned PoemsLesbosWomen DamnedLetheTo Her, Too MerryThe JewelsMetamorphoses of the VampireWhat People are Saying About This
"This is the Baudelaire translation for our time--and for all time. Relentlessly straightforward, surprisingly succinct, hilarious and horrifying as they are, these poems have never been as readable in English."
— Norma Cole, author of Spinoza in Her Youth
“There are numerous translations of Les Fleurs du Mal in print, but none even approach Waldrop’s-he alone captures the speed and verve of the real Baudelaire.”
"This is the Baudelaire translation for our time—and for all time. Relentlessly straightforward, surprisingly succinct, hilarious and horrifying as they are, these poems have never been as readable in English."—Norma Cole, author of Spinoza in Her Youth
"There are numerous translations of Les Fleurs du Mal in print, but none even approach Waldrop's-he alone captures the speed and verve of the real Baudelaire.""—Cole Swensen, Iowa Writers' Workshop
"This is the Baudelaire translation for our time—and for all time. Relentlessly straightforward, surprisingly succinct, hilarious and horrifying as they are, these poems have never been as readable in English."—Norma Cole, author of Spinoza in Her Youth