Seller Inventory # newMercantile_0312114761
Synopsis: Traces the life of the controversial French poet, describes the financial, emotional, and health problems that plagued him, and looks at his relations with fellow writers and intellectuals
From Kirkus Reviews: Another of Richardson's massively thorough, massively documented, but only minimally engaging biographies of French literary lights (Zola, 1978, etc.). Richardson sorts through conflicting testimonies about the notorious poet of Les Fleurs du mal: He was a voluptuary, he was a virgin; he indulged in drink, he drank moderately. In fact, according to the author, he was a man divided against himself, unable to resist carnal desires yet feeling degraded by them--a true Catholic at heart, despite his conviction in 1857 for offending public morality with his poems. But Richardson primarily hangs her view of Baudelaire on one thread: the unhealthy symbiosis between the poet and his mother, and the poet's conflicting needs, first, to avenge himself on her for remarrying and abandoning him emotionally when he was a boy; and, second, to recover the earlier, idyllic period of her widowhood, when he was the focus of her love. Quoting liberally from the poet's letters to his mother, Richardson limns a life as wearying to the reader as it must have been to the poet: the endless cajoling and castigating requests for money (youthful extravagance by the poet-dandy had led to the appointment of a trustee to dole out his inheritance), efforts to flee creditors, writings conceived but never executed. His devotion to the prostitute Jeanne Duval was thus a revenge against his conventional mother; his chaste love for the courtesan Apollonie Sabatier was an attempt to recover the lost maternal love. This is all credible but not very satisfying, for as Richardson herself shows, this man was highly complex: rebellious, sensitive, egotistical, self-doubting, cynical, naive. Yet while highlighting Baudelaire's misery, she fails to illuminate the means by which he, as he once put it, turned the mud of life into poetic gold. Fortunately she does rely heavily on quoting letters from the time, and thus presents a heartrending picture of Baudelaire's last year, before his death at the age of 46 in 1867: Struck by hemiplegia and aphasia, the poet who had made such exquisite use of language was virtually unable to utter a word. Strictly for students and devotees of this great poŠte maudit. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Title: Baudelaire
Publisher: St Martins Pr
Publication Date: 1994
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: new
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fair. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st US. Larger, very thick sturdy book, black covers, very bright gilt lettering on spine, 602 pages including a glossy photo section of portraits. Extensive ink underlining with asteriks in the margins throughout, a five column list of pages written in ink on final end paper. DJ has a photo portrait of the poet on front with facsimile signature, black spine and back, praise from many British publications. Very Fine DJ/Near Good book. Seller Inventory # 063112
Book Description Condition: Good. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 4839279-6
Book Description Condition: Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 398399-6
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 2.3. Seller Inventory # G0312114761I4N00
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 2.3. Seller Inventory # G0312114761I3N10
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 2.3. Seller Inventory # G0312114761I3N10
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fair. No Jacket. Former library book; Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 2.3. Seller Inventory # G0312114761I5N10
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. Former library book; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 2.3. Seller Inventory # G0312114761I4N10
Book Description Condition: Good. This item is in overall good condition. Covers and dust jackets are intact but may have minor wear including slight curls or bends to corners as well as cosmetic blemishes including stickers. Pages are intact but may have minor highlighting/ writing. Binding is intact; however, spine may have slight wear overall. Minor shelf wear overall. Please note that all items are donated goods and are in used condition. Orders shipped Monday through Friday! Your purchase helps put people to work and learn life skills to reach their full potential. Orders shipped Monday through Friday. Your purchase helps put people to work and learn life skills to reach their full potential. Thank you!. Seller Inventory # 466SK8000Z5W
Book Description Condition: Good. Buy with confidence! Book is in good condition with minor wear to the pages, binding, and minor marks within 2.4. Seller Inventory # bk0312114761xvz189zvxgdd