San Antonio College Library

This is an account and an interpretation of Baudelaire's work; of his life; of his times. And it is a biography not of his outward life alone but of that inner personality which is reflected so intimately in his poetry. In it is restated the view that Les Fleurs du Mal is a depiction of the struggle between man's aspiration towards virtue and his proclivity towards vice; and of a divided human nature in which each part--the good and the bad--gains...

A biography of the French poet also delves into Rimbaud's lives outside of literature, including his stints as an explorer, mercenary gun runner, and friend to slave traders.

"A study of the life, thought, and writings of Charles Baudelaire reveals his ability to give expression to the sense of disaster that haunts all civilization."--

This short treatise is an enlightening introduction to Charles Beaudelaire and his most famous volume of poetry, "Les Fleurs du Mal" of 1857. No one has yet succeeded, no one is likely to succeed, in summing up Beaudelaire. His ill-starred existence was full of disillusions, embarrassments, extravagances, indiscretions, debts, maladies, and the habit of procrastination. Yet he left a poetical and critical achievement of singular resonance and of a...