Baudelaire's Literary Criticism by Rosemery Lloyd (review)

292ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW in his personal life and, along with his cult of the West, one of the major poles of his literary inspiration. In some of his best-known novels, like The Toum and the City, Doctor Sax, and Visions o/ Gerard, Kerouac drew heavily on memories ofhis family and childhood milieu, for which he maintained a deeply-felt nostalgia throughout his wanderings in California, the Northwest, and Mexico. Through his contact with the San Francisco literary avant-garde, he was greatly influenced by the Buddhist doctrines of suffering and the transcendence ofit through self-discipline. Yet he was able to reconcile this philosophy of life with the Catholic beliefs to which he held. One of the most interesting facets ofHuebel'sstudy is his tracing ofthe evolution of the Western myth in Kerouac's works. The letter's initial exaltetion ofthe restless freedom, individuellem, end elso gentle humenity which he identified with the West in such works es On the Road end Visions o/ Cody eventuelly geve wey to the enguished disillusionment of Lonesome Traveler end Big Sur. These lete works reflect his own increesing despeir end diseppointment with Americen life. As in his eerlier novels, his personel experiences were the principel source of his "sponteneous prose." Despite the limited spece in which he hed to work, Huebel hes written ß highly comprehensive end reveeling overview of Kerouec's life end works. The commentetor's obvious sympethy for his subject hes produced velueble insights into Kerouec's novels end poems without dimming his criticel ewereness of the writer's literery shortcomings. JAMES P. GILROY University of Denver Rosemery Lloyd. Baudelaire's Literary Criticism. Cembridge: University Press, 1981. 338p. One of the interesting feetures of Lloyd's book is the eppendege on the bibliogrephy of contemporery erticles, mostly from 1849 to ebout 1863 (pp. 306-330), which provides the embience for en eveluetion of Beudeleire's criticel works. Lloyd's book is divided into seven chepters. The first one deels with Beudeleire's eerly criticism; the second concerns Edger Allen Poe; the third treets his erticles on Fleubert's Madame Bovary end Asselineeu's La Double Vie; the fourth is on Geutier end Belzec; the fifth is reserved for the "colossus," Victor Hugo; the sixth concentrates on whet might be celled the lesser-known poets (elthough Leconte de Lisle is emong them); the finel chepter centers on the role of the poet vis-à-vis his disciple, Léon Cledel. In the introduction, Lloyd ecknowledges previous works on the poet's literery criticism; she elso emphesizes the importence ofBeudeleire's literery erticles (elong with his letters), inesmuch es "different levels of meening opérete, with Beudeleire meking gifted end provocetive use of irony, evesion, postiche, summeries ofwidelyheld beliefs and mockery both of the reeder end of the writer under discussion" (pp. 6-7). These Beudeleireen elements ere emply illustrated in the body of Lloyd's work. In the chapter on Poe, the similerities between the two writers ere expounded, but Lloyd judiciously refrains from positing ß general influence of the Americen poet on Beudeleire. As fer es Poe's criticel works ere concerned, moreover, Beudeleire's "own criticism is fer removed from the feult-finding, helf-mocking approech of his Americen counterpert" (p. 80). All in all, Lloyd's appreisel is well Book Reviews293 belenced, not forgetting some decisive influence of Poe on Beudeleire's themes in some of his prose poems (especielly Le Mauvais Vitrier, Les Dons desfées, La Corde, Le Crépuscule du soir end Mademoiselle Bistouri). Concerning Gautier, Baudelaire singles out the novel Mademoiselle de Maupin for special comment. He opposes the generally held opinion thet it "merely represents edolescent pessions"; for him, "it cen be reed es en ellegory depicting a higher passion: T amour exclusif de Beau'" (p. 124). In this chepter there is further discussion of Beudeleire's embivelent ettitude towerd Geutier. The chepter on Victor Hugo comprises some thirty pages and it consists of the elternete edmiretion end mockery in regerd to the most femous poet of his ege. In eccord with his own ettitudes towerd literature, Baudelaire saw greet merit in Les Contemplations end in the first series of La Légende des si...