Paris Spleen: 1869

by Charles Baudelaire

Book Overview

Set in a modern, urban Paris, the prose pieces in this volume constitute a further exploration of the terrain Baudelaire had covered in his verse masterpiece, The Flowers of Evil: the city and its squalor and inequalities, the pressures of time and mortality, and the liberation provided by the sensual delights of intoxication, art, and women. Published posthumously in 1869, Paris Spleen was a landmark publication in the development of the genre of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811200078
• ISBN13: 9780811200073
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 118 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Terrible condition

There was so much writing and highlighting in the book that much of it was hardly legible.

The classic translation.

An elegant, accurate, and readable translation of this wonderful little book that can revolutionize your way of seeing and thinking. Some newer, and in some ways, better translations have appeared since this one became the "standard," but it's still a good buy and a sure bet for reading pleasure.

good stuff

i have several translations of le spleen de paris( in turkish) and want to say that these i have is not good in print, not well organized.but this book, with lots of painting of which painters baudelaire himself mentioned in his essays concerning modern painting and two are painted by baudelaire. a masterpiece is born from a masterpiece.

Baudelaire Vents His Spleen at the Outside World

The book that helped me overcome my prejudice against poetry--I carried "Paris Spleen" around with me for a couple of weeks after I first read it, and kept turning back to certain poems as I went about my daily errands. Even though it's nearly 150 years old it seems as timely and contemporary as it must have seemed when it was first published--absolutely top-notch.

Make sure to get the Varese translation!

This is a wonderful book -- Baudelaire's prose poems perfectly capture the spirit of 19th century Paris as it rushes into modernism. Don't be seduced by prettier editions of this book -- it is crucial to get the Varese translation! Also, Walter Benjamin's early to mid twentieth century critique of Baudelarie should not be missed.

stand back

great.....witty...often times very beautiful descriptions of love...smashing into reality....makes you let go of hatred and stand back and chuckle...at the way things are