The Flowers of Evil

Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867) and James Huneker (1857 - 1921)

Charles Baudelaire was a French poet whose work is described as combining an exoticism inherited from the Romantics with the Realism of other French writers of his time. The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs du mal) is a book of lyric poetry and his most famous work. In it he expresses the changing nature of beauty in the rapidly industrialising Paris caused by Haussmann's renovation of the city during the mid-19th century. He coined the term modernity to designate the fleeting experience of life in an urban metropolis, and the responsibility of artistic expression to capture that experience.

Les Fleurs du mal includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First published in 1857, it was important in the symbolist and modernist movements. Though it was extremely controversial upon publication, with six of its poems censored due to their immorality, it is now considered a major work of French poetry. The poems in Les Fleurs du mal frequently break with tradition, using suggestive images and unusual forms. They deal with themes relating to decadence and eroticism, particularly focusing on suffering and its relationship to original sin, disgust toward evil and oneself, obsession with death, and aspiration toward an ideal world. Les Fleurs du mal had a powerful influence on several notable French poets, including Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, and Stéphane Mallarmé.

These English translations by Frank Pearce Sturm (1879-1942) include a selection from the original French edition.

(Summary by Alan Mapstone and wikipedia)

Genre(s): Lyric

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 The Dance of Death Alan Mapstone
00:05:29
Play 02 The Beacons Alan Mapstone
00:04:00
Play 03 The Sadness of the Moon Alan Mapstone
00:01:28
Play 04 Exotic Perfume KevinS
00:01:11
Play 05 Beauty Stunning
00:01:16
Play 06 The Balcony Alan Mapstone
00:02:53
Play 07 The Sick Muse Alan Mapstone
00:01:33
Play 08 The Venal Muse Alan Mapstone
00:01:30
Play 09 The Evil Monk nighthawks
00:01:18
Play 10 The Temptation Bruce Kachuk
00:01:33
Play 11 The Irreparable Chris Pyle
00:02:16
Play 12 A Former Life fshort
00:01:08
Play 13 Don Juan in Hades Alan Mapstone
00:02:03
Play 14 The Living Flame Bruce Kachuk
00:01:20
Play 15 Correspondences Bruce Kachuk
00:01:16
Play 16 The Flask nighthawks
00:02:17
Play 17 Reversibility KevinS
00:01:52
Play 18 The Eyes of Beauty Larry Wilson
00:01:18
Play 19 Sonnet of Autumn Stunning
00:01:31
Play 20 The Remorse of the Dead Algy Pug
00:01:14
Play 21 The Ghost Stunning
00:01:06
Play 22 To a Madonna Meribau
00:02:50
Play 23 The Sky nighthawks
00:01:21
Play 24 Spleen Algy Pug
00:01:33
Play 25 The Owls Stunning
00:01:09
Play 26 Bien Loin D'Ici Stefan Von Blon
00:01:21
Play 27 Music Arah Craig
00:00:54
Play 28 Contemplation Stefan Von Blon
00:01:43
Play 29 To a Brown Beggar-maid Alan Mapstone
00:03:28
Play 30 The Swan Adrian Stephens
00:04:16
Play 31 The Seven Old Men Adrian Stephens
00:04:17
Play 32 The Little Old Women Adrian Stephens
00:05:40
Play 33 A Madrigal of Sorrow Adrian Stephens
00:02:26
Play 34 The Ideal Adrian Stephens
00:01:09
Play 35 Mist and Rain Agnes Robert Behr
00:01:08
Play 36 Sunset KevinS
00:01:07
Play 37 The Corpse KevinS
00:02:43
Play 38 An Allegory KevinS
00:01:25
Play 39 The Accursed nighthawks
00:02:38
Play 40 La Béatrice Alan Mapstone
00:02:51
Play 41 The Soul of Wine KevinS
00:01:43
Play 42 The Wine of Lovers CCam
00:00:58
Play 43 The Death of Lovers Agnes Robert Behr
00:01:06
Play 44 The Death of the Poor Agnes Robert Behr
00:01:07
Play 45 The Benediction Sheridan Alistair
00:06:38
Play 46 Gypsies Travelling nighthawks
00:01:17
Play 47 Robed in a Silken Robe Alan Mapstone
00:01:28
Play 48 A Landscape Gwen Dillard
00:01:57
Play 49 The Voyage Alan Mapstone
00:12:13