Charles Baudelaire - Les Fleurs du Mal (and Selected Poems) BOOK REVIEW

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[@DarkKar]

You should do a video roasting coffee. Talk about books! Read a poem or two! Let us see your process. Everyone'll have a good time.

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Eric Mark Great idea, I’ll do that.

[@AleksandarBloom]

Roastie caffe, I know that place. Just like in Dante, stage before they hit coolwineaunt.

[@michelebuckles7865]

love this idea!

[@aLoUd3]

Looking forward to this episode. Great idea!

[@jeffreyrozier2943]

Great suggestion!

[@Antastesia]

I was waiting for this one! And I agree on the distinction between Rimbaud and Baudelaire, which is one of the main reasons why I love Baudelaire much much much more.

[@SophiaBORISELKERDINI]

OMG feels so weird to see your comment ( first thing I see by pure coincidence!), and that we both love the same channel (that I've just recently been recommended). Anyway, I'll take the opportunity to say that I also love your videos so much et que surtout je me retrouve dans beaucoup de choses que tu décris et dévoile sur ta personne, merci de réussir à chaque fois à trouver le courage (et la générosité) de partager une partie de toi avec le monde

[@iwantmyoperahouse]

Really appreciated this one. Also - how neat is the suble change in light as autumn takes over and darkness engulfs the room... so appropriate :)

[@vishmonster]

Baudelaire is great for those with a guilty conscience.

[@tuomasansio]

I'm reading Kierkegaard and Baudelaire and Nietzsche at the same time, makes conscience pretty ambivalent.

[@glenndickson6835]

Miesmystinen you big dork

[@tuomasansio]

+blarf splinblitzel ?

[@sergiopacheco2939]

What are some good examples? I just bought the book

[@peymanbeheshti6484]

Hard to be alive and not get a guilty conscience.

[@Victor-lo6dg]

When you mention about wine , a poet comes to my mind , Cao Cao 曹操。In his poem 短歌行 (The Short Song) , he said "I lift my wine and sing a song for who knows life is short or long. Man's life is but a morning dew , past days many , future ones few." Anyways , great video! Very informative

[@milascave2]

Wine is used as a metaphor for love, sex, joy, and spiritual rapture, in the Jewish, Christian, Sufi Muslim, and Hind poetic traditions. Obviously, they are not all just saying "Hey, let's all be winos." They are saying "stay high on the joys of love, life, and/or spiritual rapture."

[@timkjazz]

Baudelaire first came across Poe through a translation of 'The Black Cat' in the January 1847 issue of the newspaper La Democratie pacifique, translated by Isabelle Meunier.

[@mikejohnson2173]

Merci. How did you find this Ms. Investigstor? 🎃

[@johndoe-nu6kl]

YES on more dark French literature. 'Tis the season.

[@nicoleuswhite2192]

I was introduced to this book from an anime called Aku no Hana (Flowers of Evil)

[@BrunoS1917]

God I was waiting eagerly for this review! I study french in college and this book is that kind of "one book to bring to a desert island" situation in the case of poetry. Keep on the great reviews

[@michaelszabados3245]

I learned a lot about Baudelaire after loving him for 30 years. Thank you!

[@MyFakeIronTrees]

I look forward to your reviews every week Cliff. The prose poems in Paris Spleen by Baudelaire are also fantastic.

[@uniquechannelnames]

Thank you for bolstering my drive in my French studies, just like in your "Story of the Eye" video speaking of translating word play (or more, how it can be nearly impossible), it has re-invigorated one of my reasons for learning French and reminded me why I started out on that endeavour. With French's huge impact on the world of literature, I'm very excited to be able to explore that influence in it's own language. I'm currently reading "L'étranger" by Camus in French. So far so good. Merci beaucoup monsieur!

[@T4wsi5w47w7]

Yes, I would love to see more reviews of stuff like this. Loved the video

[@MartialDriscoll]

Excellent shout on Baudelaire. You made a good point about translations.. I want to read Pan Tadeusz but its been translated a heck number of times.

[@Neuroneos]

You've finally reviewed THE book!!

[@bartolomeu6801]

Really glad to see a drawing of Lautreamont as your profile picture. One of the most underrated geniuses in world literature. Greetings from Brazil.

[@bighardbooks770]

Very interesting and educational; love the 🕯️ & lighting shadow, Baudelaire and Rimbaud TBR, thx, Cliff...

[@Om-yt2rb]

Maybe you’re tired from hearing this but excellent review as always 👏👏by the way you’re my favorite KZbinr so far so please don’t stop doing these videos you don’t know the big impact they have on me they changed me completely to the best of course 👌I really admire your way of thinking your taste in books you really don’t have any competition you’re the only person on KZbin with this intelligent content please don’t forget that 👌👍👍👍👍👍good luck and keep doing what you do best 👏👏this comment maybe overwhelming but I’m just saying the truth because I thought you deserve to know 🌹

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

I'm glad to hear it! Thank you very much for the kind words and for watching.

[@Om-yt2rb]

Better Than Food: Book Reviews you really have no idea you’re like a doctor for the mind lol 😂 please promise me you’ll never stop reviewing books

[@FR_N-do4xi]

Man this was interesting to watch, thank you for making my uni subject more appealing ✍️

[@bozhidarpenev9723]

Your channel is fuckin amazing..Keep doing what you do, and thank you for existing.I've discovered so many new authors because of you. Thank you!!!!

[@wafflenarmin9959]

I am big lover of books. Thank you for sharing your book reviews.

[@Fggghhjbb]

I've been loving your reviews! started with the review of paradise lost and discovered that we have a very similar book taste while going through the rest of your videos! Have you ever thought about reviewing Saint Genet? Would love to know your thoughts on it

Great video! Les fleurs du mal is a book I always wanted to read (since I first read Edgar Allan Poe), I'll start it today, with any luck. Also, I'm new to the channel, why he keeps shaking that jar at the end of the videos?

[@timpadleki8384]

Incredible review! Thank you!!!!

[@farawayeye8423]

I like your take. Much more interesting than the professor I listened to for five minutes before you.

[@jimenagonzalez483]

Which books do you recommend for a new reader? Something deep and entertaining but not as difficult to read as the ones you normally review. Wanna start reading better written books but not really sure where to start. Thanks

[@ryanzepp8897]

Hey Cliff, with your new initiative of pushing patrons to the top, I would like to recommend Future Home of the Living God. Thanks man, love your stuff

[@hjoshi1954]

Oh dear, I like the way you presented Baudelaire....I am sorry that I cannot donate, but tons of appreciation for what you are doing!

[@jessejames9113]

Id love to hear your thoughts on Cormac McCarthys Outer Dark. IMHO it is highly underrated. Cullas encounter with the three strangers is absolutely terrifying. Keep up the great reviews!

[@Tallyoh]

I second this. Most overlooked and underrated of Cormac McCarthy's work.

[@timkjazz]

I third this, the world's greatest living author.

[@Ryan_Ek2]

I just picked it up yesterday. Someone must have been telling me you were about to review it.

[@ritwikchakraborty2397]

Nice video! I've been wanting to read Les Fleurs du Mal and others works by Baudelaire ever since I watched Aku no Hana which is definitely among the best anime I've watched in terms of both cinematography and concept. The anime explores the act of finding meaning in self, in love and how it connects with the perverse. The essence of perversion is beautiful and realising one's perversion, from both a passive and active perspective often connects to a feeling of transcendence. It'd be great if you could watch it sometime. It's wonderful.

[@leonardoc.3931]

There was a book you reviewed that someone payed you to read but I can’t find the video to save my life. I just remembered being super interested in it. You said he guy wouldn’t reveal how much of the book was truth

[@philippejean5636]

You are amazing, thank you so much for your videos

[@VLAD-yu6ul]

I absolutely love your videos! I have a suggestion for you to take a look at José Donoso's acclaimed novel The Obscene Bird of Night?

[@kylewente9114]

Have you thought about making your 'To Read' list public so we can see and draw from it as well? I think it'd make this channel even more inclusive

[@oldmoviemusic]

Whenever I see you talk about poetry it always sounds like you should be reading John Donne!

[@danasheys9300]

Fine job well done enjoyed this one

[@tylerrush7032]

I have been attempting to find many of the Italian, Spanish, and other foreign writers mentioned by you. However, I can not seem to find any of them in my area. Where do you find such writers?

[@oldmoviemusic]

For really low circulation authors I just order them off of Amazon...Used bookstores are obviously preferable, but they don't have the more obscure classics. Hopefully you have Amazon or some other internet book seller where you are?

[@perguto]

Wow, I just found the book two months ago in a public bookshelf on the street (I don't know whether you ve also got these things in the States). I picked it up mainly because it was the only book in French, without ever having heard of it or its author. So far I haven't read it because I realized immediately after bringing it home that my French still sucked. Guess that's some divine providence telling me to give it another shot

[@ms.verepaine6914]

Check out CB's website they have all the poems translated in multiple versions of English - wonderful

[@vrixphillips]

what's on the list of "dark french lit" hopefully upcoming this "season"?

[@garethdavies7488]

The Marquis du sade is a great place to start!

[@sebastianx13]

Yes, more dark French poetry please!

[@adamhitze2180]

Damnit, what poem was he reading from les fleur du mal? The guy in the unpublished Hemingway book. Personally, I absolutely LOVE "The Metamorphosis Of The Vampire". I think it's my favor....well hmmm, I don't know, that's hard to say, so much epic poetry. The first time I ever read Blake it resonated with something deep down inside my soul. It evoked a strange mystical like familiarity, it left me in awe. Up until that point I had never read anything quite like it. It filled me with a desire for more, I began reading as much poetry as I could get my hands on. Which led me to discover Baudelaire. Baudelaire had my jaw hitting the floor upon first reading. He's in that elite class of poet (along with Blake) that very few belong. Well, I suppose I will stop rambling on. THANK you for the awesome vid (haha), I enjoyed it much. 😳. Ohh BTW, some are born to sweet delight......night... is also in a Doors song. And yes, The name of the band is taken from "the doors of perception" , I know. So I guess it's safe to assume Jim Morrison was a Blake fan...And a Huxley can. Did you know Jim Morrison was very a close friend of Nico, who sang with the Velvet Underground? I find Nico utterly fascinating. Ok I really am done now. May the wind always be at your back my friend, goodbye.

[@wetfart1387able]

19:26 Still amazes me I won. Changed my life.

[@blazeddddddd]

Here from aku no hana

[@auvroislam4264]

Same

[@gonzomax7]

Got me lol

[@damnation6667]

Its just so good that manga

[@milascave2]

He never went to India, though, He got off the ship on an Island stop over in the French Caribbean, spent a short amount of time there, and then caught a boat back to France.

[@michaelmckeown5396]

Have you thought about reviewing Naked Lunch?

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Yup. Love Burroughs.

[@asderc1]

@@BetterThanFoodBookReviews good to hear

[@bobsbigboy_]

Sleeeeeep

[@jeffreywilson9913]

@@BetterThanFoodBookReviews Bad Book

[@JackHoward96]

Have you seen Beresford Egan's illustrations for Les Fleurs du Mal?

[@AleksandarBloom]

Does anyone know good and still in print English language biography of CB?

[@lulub.9635]

Please review Emile Zola or Virginia Woolf. Two writers who are on my literary Mount Rushmore.👍

[@maryloumiaconsuelo9225]

LuLu B. Who are the others?

[@lulub.9635]

Marley Sky King James Baldwin and Thomas Bernhard...I was inspired during a family trip to Mount Rushmore 5 years ago.

[@maryloumiaconsuelo9225]

LuLu B. Nice!

[@davidjaxontartaglia8]

Always a fine read my poet friend. A review of the French Dadaist` would be moving, compelling, refreshing. Especially Tristan Tzara. I also love Louis Aragon's `The Red Front` .... "For it is only when a poet is torn from his passionate faith that the madness drives him into the truest form of the soul speaking its most brilliant tone." .....djt~*

[@palmamingozzi5736]

This is very nice, you don’t need a stage. Great 👍

[@ImVez_]

10:13 The ‘Bataille d’Hernani’ !

[@Karracks]

2:40 i think you misunderstood "be drunk". It's not about not being "an alcoholic" as if he was arguing for moderation. I think rather it was a poem that argued that you shouldn't be bound by the shackles of time and industriousness, but rather embrace a life of boundless indulgence

[@wetfart1387able]

Wait!!! My name is Jeff and I donate! Does that mean I won?! How do we go about this?! I'M SO EXCITED!!!

[@ryanzepp8897]

He probably emails you beforehand. Been waiting for my name to get called for months now :)

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Yup, thanks so much man.

[@peterjohnson5871]

Still waiting for that “Les sang des betes” review on your film review channel.

[@Daniel-do2yj]

Illuminations perhaps? One not about Rimbaud, but the poems themselves... please Cliff

[@erannohana-eavry813]

Have you ever thought of reviewing Kafka?

[@georgebohn988]

by a strange twist of fate baudelaire is burried in the same tomb as the general AUPICK at the montparnasse cemetery in PARIS. So he has to spend the eternity with one of his tourmentor. Maybe he should have instead pick "la belle ténébreuse " if it was given him some choice

[@daisychell8923]

please can you review Handmaid's Tale by margaret atwood !!? :)

[@peymanbeheshti6484]

Thanks from Paris. Love the way you feel it. But there is some mistakes about Baudelaire's life and addictions.

[@nhmooytis7058]

Addicted to opium and laudanum and living with mommy at 38, perfect role model for Millenials 😂😂😂

[@cadeburkhammer5942]

Great. thanks. not too much on CB in english (amerrricann) Its interesting how concepts canot be translated

[@mateussouza4021]

I LOVE THAT POEM BE DRUNK !!

[@jeffreywilson9913]

Have you heard of the book The Outlaw Bible Of American Poetry?

[@jossrommel74]

mi poeta favorito...

[@AmusedChild]

I learned about Baudelaire via Antonin Artaud.

[@T4wsi5w47w7]

You should read Walter Benjamin's book on Baudelaire

[@griffinmiller3820]

First book review of a book I have already read.

[@adamrubin6248]

Here to suggest, if you wish, Sarah Kane and Anna Kavan.

[@antoniocapurso9798]

Great insight about Baudelaire!! This author has always fascinated me... I decided to write a blog article about this French poet, focusing on his relationship with wine - a fascination that swung between hedonistic pleasure and a way to transcend human boundaries. For whoever is interested the article can be found here: wineandotherstories.com/charles-baudelaire-a-dandy-wine-lover/

[@brannonmcclure6970]

Thanks for this… 🧑‍🎨♾️🎭♾️✍️

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

I am reading Baudelaire myself and I think his writing is beautiful. But the Delphi translation is a bit off.

[@undecodable6145]

Yup for the dark french

[@user-ky7nq9pt2c]

"...open, like a bleeding wound.." oh, man...

[@tuomasansio]

If you like Baudelaire and Rimbaud, you'd probably like Georg Trakl also.

[@j.t.8848]

Trakl is amazing. Such vivid mournful imagery. I found his stuff just last year and have been reading it and re-reading it all the time. Would love to see him covered on this channel. His life was equally horrid and he died young of a cocaine overdose. All his stuff can be found here for those interested. www.literaturnische.de/Trakl/english/texte-e.htm

[@j.t.8848]

From the Still Days -by Georg Trakl So ghostly are these late days Just like the look of sick people, sent here In the light. However, the night shades the muted lament Of their eyes, toward which they already turn. They probably smile and recall their celebrations, How one is moved after songs, half forgotten, And searches words for a sad gesture, Which already grows pale in silence unmeasured. So the sun still plays around ill flowers And lets them shiver in the thin, clear airs With a death-cool delight. The red forests whisper and darken, And more death-nightly the woodpeckers' hammering echoes Just like a reverberation from airless crypts.

[@michaelserfort8128]

Trakl is incredibly special .

[@sohinisarker3551]

Yaaayyyyy

[@testcardII]

🖤🖤🖤

[@thomasfranche6770]

You don't sound snobby. Do you understand French a little ? You actually read pretty well.

[@mikejohnson2173]

Merci. Just discovered you.

[@cherijoe]

Well, in Roman times, they preferred lead.

[@Howeyable]

Independent People, by Halldor Laxness, perhaps the next gem, up for reviewing? "A huge, humane revelation of a novel is set in rural Iceland in the early twentieth century, written by the Nobel prize-winner dubbed the 'Tolstoy of the North'. A magnificent portrait of the eerie Icelandic landscape and a man's dogged struggle for independence.There are good books and there are great books and there may be a book that is something still more: it is the book of your life' - New York Review of Books. "Bjartur is a sheep farmer determined to eke a living from a blighted patch of land. Nothing, not merciless weather, nor the First World War, nor his family will come between him and his goal of financial independence. Only Asta Solillja, the child he brings up as his daughter, can pierce his stubborn heart. As she grows up, keen to make her own way in the world, Bjartus' obstinacy threatens to estrange them forever".

[@ms.verepaine6914]

ole Chuckie was one creepy little perverted french dude - !GUAU! is his poetry beautiful

[@saint_silver]

The fact is Baudelaire lived running away of debt, probably dimishing his health. But when he died, he was still rich. His family just took away his cash

[@lareinathelassa]

I had to give u a thumbs up for that fucking goblet

[@gonzogil123]

That is a very systematic theme the way this appears as an answer to the question: what do we need as a group of people to produce good cultural works?. To what extent must autonomy be withdrawn from the author, and located upon that which does not contribute to life, much less its cultural expressions. For some reason, there are people that are convinced that the source to life-enhancing culture lies in the very same sources that attempt to destroy it rather than locating it in an effort to pull in the opposite direction. It is as if they could not produce culture, or, art without them having victims, or, becoming a victim. If you agree to that logic the Nazi camps, to them, or the cotton fields of the U.S. South, must be attributed responsibility, as well as whatever honor, may come its way, for being there at the right moment in order to elevate humanity. You detect the problem no? I do it on purpose to see if there is a better argument than that for the position that one must attribute to incestual violence responsibility for nurturing existence.

[@Flux799]

Mount Eerie

[@84960934258kjklasb]

Have you read The Lords and New Creatures by Jim Morrison? His poetry was influenced fairly heavily by Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Poe, Nitchze and the like. It would be interesting to see what you think of it.

[@KingMinosxxvi]

In French?

[@notatall2237]

Is it The Flower of Evil? I've read the manga not the poems.

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

The Flowers of Evil, yes, along with additional poems.

[@Shalini_Jay_Music]

Baudelaire seemed to show a lot of symptoms associated with bipolar disorder. Love his poetry, and this review. ♥️

[@combinationss]

Hi I'm here to make you rewatch this video of yourself for what might be a reason? Or just to say merci! take care and I'm glad I've found your channel, I can do with a few more good books to read and I didn't even think of youtube as a starting off place for a book club (I'm 30 and old).

[@Thompsdan]

Big hat, no cattle 😆

[@Malik-ji3mz]

Watch him get like $1000 in donations for Gravity’s Rainbow hahahaha

[@cansrick1806]

So am the only one here because I read a manga...

[@amycastillo-noble200]

really prefer bukowsky... or even dylan thomas in terms of curmudgeonly dranky poets

[@Joe99453]

Wow! Thankfully Baudelaire can speak for himself and I'm afraid it is you who are the footnote to history and not he. You need only read L'albatros and Benediction to understand that this guy understands nothing of the poet... Or maybe it's a performance piece of irony whereby the reviewer positively reviews great poetry that undermines his entire approach to great works. Like a romantic recommending Bacon or a Physics teacher encouraging a poor student to read Whitman

[@interzone8468]

thanks for that.........gonna watch dead man .

[@michaelserfort8128]

Baudelaire isn't dark and discouraged..., he is my favorite . That sensual...often missunderstood and telling the truth without frills .

[@interzone8468]

iggy in dress whats not to love

[@theleftusedtobeniceyup4084]

"it seemed easier at that time to offend people" seems not to be the case anymore

[@thehealinghotspotjuliesund3601]

Too bad you’re married .. my brain is in love 🥰