BAUDELAIRE

Dispelling rumors, generalities and clichés, this work is certain to become the definitive biography of one of the greatest poets of the 19th century.

We all know that Charles Baudelaire was a monumental romantic poet, whose personal life was as dissolute as his artistic genius was immense; biographies devoted to him are not lacking. But in this book, Marie-Christine Natta, a specialist of 19th century literature, goes far beyond simply reformulating already over-exploited material.

Relying on numerous key documents and sources, the author focuses on the life of Charles Baudelaire from an original viewpoint. She reexamines the poet's dandyism, the real role that drugs played in his life, and the magnitude of his talent, which cannot be reduced to Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil). She pays no more attention to historiographical controversies than she does to literary or psychological interpretations concerning Baudelaire. Only the facts count. Thus the author, in a fluid and accessible narrative, exposes the inner motivation of the crucial work accomplished by the poet in spite of the obstacles he encountered, thereby providing a fresh and sensitive portrayal of Charles Baudelaire.

A specialist in the literature of the 19th century, MARIE-CHRISTINE NATTA is responsible for several critical editions of texts by Barbey d'Aurevilly, Balzac, Dumas and Baudelaire. She is also the author of books and articles on dandyism: La Grandeur sans convictions : Essai sur le dandysme (Greatness Without Conviction: Essay on Dandyism, Editions Du Félin, 1991), La Mode (Fashion, Economica, 1996) and Le Temps des mousquetaires (The Time of the Musketeers, Editions Du Félin, 2005). In 2010 she published a biography of Eugène Delacroix (Tallandier, 2010).