The Flowers of Evil
I’m a big fan of Baudelaire’s poetry. I am particularly fond of his interest in conveying beauty through typically repulsive imagery – e.g. Une Charogne which features vivid description of a decomposing human body.
While I enjoy reading the original French, I’ve recently discovered a fantastic online resource – http://fleursdumal.org/. This site not only includes the original French, but also numerous English translations. Not being a French native speaker, I find it illuminating to compare the various styles of translations – poetic and literal – with my own understanding of the French material.
Certainly one for the bookmarks, to be enjoyed on a rainy November night in San Francisco.
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