Baudelaire and Auguste Lacaussade: A New Look

This article examines the relationship between Les Fleurs du mal (1857) of Baudelaire and Les Epaves (1861) of Auguste Lacaussade (1815-1897) and, as context, describes the personal and literary links between the two authors. Though Baudelaire also used the title Les Epaves (1866), it was the younger poet who influenced the older, which accounts for the Baudelairean themes and images in Les Epaves. Guided by the two key words in Baudelaire's title, we find that flower imagery is not only very abundant in Lacaussade but sometimes has a distinctly Baudelairean coloring, e.g., "roses noires" and "fleurs séniles." More important is the two poets' shared belief in the existence and power of evil, especially as incarnated in woman. It would appear that Lacaussade was Baudelaire's earliest poetic disciple. (JSP)