In this Book
- Paris Spleen: little poems in prose
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: Wesleyan University Press
- Series: Wesleyan Poetry Program
Between 1855 and his death in 1867, Charles Baudelaire inaugurated a new—and in his own words "dangerous"—hybrid form in a series of prose poems known as Paris Spleen. Important and provocative, these fifty poems take the reader on a tour of 1850s Paris, through gleaming cafes and filthy side streets, revealing a metropolis on the eve of great change. In its deliberate fragmentation and merging of the lyrical with the sardonic, Le Spleen de Paris may be regarded as one of the earliest and most successful examples of a specifically urban writing, the textual equivalent of the city scenes of the Impressionists. In this compelling new translation, Keith Waldrop delivers the companion to his innovative translation of The Flowers of Evil. Here, Waldrop's perfectly modulated mix releases the music, intensity, and dissonance in Baudelaire's prose. The result is a powerful new re-imagining that is closer to Baudelaire's own poetry than any previous English translation.
Table of Contents
- Translator’s Introduction
- pp. vii-viii
- I: The Stranger
- p. 5
- IV: A Joker
- p. 8
- V: Double Bedroom
- pp. 9-11
- VI: To Each His Chim
- p. 12
- VIII: Dog and Flask
- p. 14
- IX: The Bad Glazier
- pp. 15-17
- X: One A.M.
- pp. 18-19
- XI: Wild Woman and Little Darling
- pp. 20-21
- XII: The Crowd
- pp. 22-23
- XIII: Widows
- pp. 24-26
- XIV: The Old Showman
- pp. 27-28
- XVI: The Clock
- p. 31
- XVIII: Invitation to the Voyage
- pp. 33-35
- XIX: A Toy for the Poor
- pp. 36-37
- XX: Fairy Gifts
- pp. 38-39
- XXII: Evening Twilight
- pp. 43-44
- XXIII: Solitude
- pp. 45-46
- XXIV: Planning
- pp. 47-48
- XXV: Dorothea the Beautiful
- pp. 49-50
- XXVI: The Eyes of the Poor
- pp. 51-52
- XXVII: An Heroic Death
- pp. 53-56
- XXVIII: The False Coin
- pp. 57-58
- XXIX: Generous Gambler
- pp. 59-61
- XXX: The Rope
- pp. 62-64
- XXXI: Callings
- pp. 65-68
- XXXII: The Thyrsus
- pp. 69-70
- XXXIII: Be Drunk
- p. 71
- XXXIV: Already!
- pp. 72-73
- XXXV: Windows
- p. 74
- XXXVII: Moon Favors
- p. 76
- XL: The Mirror
- p. 79
- XLI: The Port
- p. 80
- XLII: Mistresses Portrayed
- pp. 81-84
- XLVI: Lost Halo
- p. 88
- XLVII: Mademoiselle Bistoury
- pp. 89-91
- XLVIII: Anywhere Out of the World
- pp. 92-93
- XLIX: Knock Down the Poor!
- pp. 94-95
- L: Good Dogs
- pp. 96-99