The Parisian Prowler - Softcover

Baudelaire, Charles

4.26

13,267 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0820311634 ISBN 13: 9780820311630

Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 1990

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Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) is widely regarded as France's greatest poet. His "Les Fleurs du Mal" launched a literary revolution in Europe, ushering in the modern era. "The Parisian Prowler", Edward Kaplan's rendering of "Le Spleen de Paris", is the first translation of Baudelaire's neglected masterpiece in over 40 years. The 50 prose pieces that compose "The Parisian Prowler" offer, in Baudelaire's words, a "description of modern life, or rather of "one" modern and more abstract life". These fables about beggars, widows, clowns and other solitary figures reveal the writer's sense of beauty. Yet at times, he appears to repudiate standards of charity, social equality, or even the quest for artistic perfection. Illustrated with drawings from the period by Manet, Daumier, Delacroix, Whistler, Callot, Guys and Baudelaire himself, "The Parisian Prowler" is intended as a companion to Baudelaire's poetry. In his repeated voyages of inititation, in his search for community and family, the narrator of "The Parisian Prowler" confronts the reader with Baudelairean juxtapositions - ambiguity and judgement, kindness and cruelty, anger and generosity - which undermine any reassuring interpretation. In the end, readers must form their own reponses.

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Review:

"Anyone without French will find this a good introduction to Baudelaire's vision."--"Washington Post"

Anyone without French will find this a good introduction to Baudelaire's vision.--"Washington Post"

About the Author:

Edward K. Kaplan, Kaiserman Professor in the Humanities at Brandeis University, teaches French and comparative literature and religious studies. He is the author of "Baudelaire's Prose Poems: The Esthetic, the Ethical, and the Religious in The Parisian Prowler" (Georgia). His translation of Baudelaire's "Parisian Prowler" (Georgia) is a winner of the Lewis Galantiere Prize of the American Translators Association and a "Choice" Outstanding Academic Book."

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