In this video, Poet Dana Gioia explores the enigmatic world of Charles Baudelaire, the French poet who redefined poetry for so many poets after him. Author of “Les Fleurs du Mal” (The Flowers of Evil) and “Le Spleen de Paris,” (The Spleen of Paris) Charles Baudelaire’s life and biography is a fascinating topic that colors our understanding of his poetry. Learn about Baudelaire’s tumultuous life, his miseries as “le poete maudit”, the controversies surrounding the censorship of his work, and the ways in which Baudelaire continues to captivate readers today.
Here is a table of contents of the video chapters
0:01 – Baudelaire’s Childhood
5:45 – Baudelaire devotes himself to literature and pleasure
9:45 – Baudelaire takes Jean Duval as his mistress
12:25 – Baudelaire goes broke
15:05 – Baudelaire discovers Edgar Allan Poe
18:18 – The Cursed Poet (Le poete Maudit)
28:05 – Publishes Le Fleur du Mal (Flowers of Evil)
29:20 – Censorship Trial
31:30 – Middle-aged and incurably unhappy
36:50 – Prose Poems (The Spleen of Paris)
38:30 – Baudelaire’s notebooks
40:00 – Baudelaire’s Late Life )
Get the latest English translation of Baudelaire, translated by Aaron Poochigian with an introduction by Dana Gioia and afterword by Daniel Handler: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631498596
Follow Dana Gioia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/danagioiapoet?lang=en
Watch Dana Gioia’s Art of Poetry series on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjheI_OUh93ckVU4Z-j1DEy0kJ3puFgs2
For more information on Dana Gioia visit his website: https://danagioia.com
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Here is a rough table of contents
0:01 – Baudelaire’s Childhood
5:45 – Baudelaire devotes himself to literature and pleasure
9:45 – Baudelaire takes Jean Duval as his mistress
12:25 – Baudelaire goes broke
15:05 – Baudelaire discovers Edgar Allan Poe
18:18 – The Cursed Poet (Le poete Maudit)
28:05 – Publishes Le Fleur du Mal (Flowers of Evil)
29:20 – Censorship Trial
31:30 – Middle-aged and incurably unhappy
36:50 – Prose Poems (The Spleen of Paris)
38:30 – Baudelaire’s notebooks
40:00 – Baudelaire’s Late Life
Baudelaire's "Paris Spleen," translated by Louise Varese, has been a favorite of mine for many years, and I've long found Charles to be an amusing and fascinating cluster of human contradictions.
And so I was glad to find, 4 days late, as it were, your biographical essay on the poet. It provided me with many new details about his life and brightened the typically varied weather of an early spring day in New England.
I have enjoyed and I appreciate all your biographical videos of poets, including the ones on Stevens and Robinson.
I thank you, sir.
This is so fun and interesting. I can’t wait for the next part! 👏🏼
Very haunting. I love it!
Dear Dana Gioia! When you spoke in the podcast recorded during The Catholic Imagination Conference 2022 about your theories of why it is good to read Baudelaire, Roxanne, my avid-reader friend who came with me to the conference (mother of 11, grandmother of 28 and counting) was able to get into the room where the recording was made, but I got there after the doors were shut. Roxane is not a prude, but she is a devout Catholic, and she told me afterwards that she was perturbed by your defense of why it is good to read Baudelaire. I watched the podcast later, and it seems to me that even the interviewer was perturbed by what you were saying. If I grasp your points properly, your defense of reading the author of Flowers of Evil is somewhat along the lines of celebrating that Baudelaire expanded the range of topics that poetry can include. As if that's undeniably a good thing. Arguably it is not. Also a point I think you made in favor of reading Baudelaire is that he shows in superb ground-breaking verse, how not to live. My thought is that even though most far-too-open-minded intellectuals celebrate the breaking of barriers against the expression of pornographic things, much has been soiled by the flood of filth that entered literature after the barriers were breached by writers like Baudelaire and Joyce. (Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and Alan Ginsberg's Howl are two negative examples that spring to mind.) Also, about the idea of using Baudelaire as a cautionary example: in reality we can see lots of examples of how not to live everywhere, and we don't need to read poetry about evil to be convinced that we should not wallow in it. He's certainly not my cup of absinthe! With all sincerely felt respect, I'm putting this out here only because I think nobody but me is going to brave the scorn of those who think that people who think as I do are prudes, but I'm sure that Roxanne and I are not alone and we have good justification. And, although nobody likes to bring Scripture into these kinds of discussions, scorning it as "proof texting," but even so, I have to add what St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians Chapter 4, verse 8, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." St. Paul wouldn't approve of reading Baudelaire either!
Pleasing to see!
I have felt the wind of the wings of baldness, Pow!
Interesting
What a sad and tragic life: why are poets particularly condemned to be outsiders…Baudelaire one of the most representative. Fascinating presentation… thank you.