Fanfarlo

By Charles Baudelaire and Edward K. Kaplan

A stunning new translation of a neglected masterpiece by one of history’s most celebrated writers.
 
Ten years before Baudelaire published his masterpiece, The Flowers of Evil, the great poet penned the only prose fiction of his career: La Fanfarlo. The novella describes the torrid real-life affair the poet had with Jean Duval, a dancer whose beauty and sexuality Baudelaire came to obsess over. The outcome is a work of raw emotional power and a clear distillation of the Parisian’s poetic genius. As Baudelaire himself said, “Always be a poet, even in prose.”

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781612191102

Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) was a French poet. Born in Paris, Baudelaire lost his father at a young age. Raised by his mother, he was sent to boarding school in Lyon and completed his education at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, where he gained a reputation for frivolous spending and likely contracted several sexually transmitted diseases through his frequent contact with prostitutes. After journeying by sea to Calcutta, India at the behest of his stepfather, Baudelaire returned to Paris and began working on the lyric poems that would eventually become The Flowers of Evil (1857), his most famous work. Around this time, his family placed a hold on his inheritance, hoping to protect Baudelaire from his worst impulses. His mistress Jeanne Duval, a woman of mixed French and African ancestry, was rejected by the poet’s mother, likely leading to Baudelaire’s first known suicide attempt. During the Revolutions of 1848, Baudelaire worked as a journalist for a revolutionary newspaper, but soon abandoned his political interests to focus on his poetry and translations of the works of Thomas De Quincey and Edgar Allan Poe. As an arts critic, he promoted the works of Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix, composer Richard Wagner, poet Théophile Gautier, and painter Édouard Manet. Recognized for his pioneering philosophical and aesthetic views, Baudelaire has earned praise from such artists as Arthur Rimbaud, Stéphane Mallarmé, Marcel Proust, and T. S. Eliot. An embittered recorder of modern decay, Baudelaire was an essential force in revolutionizing poetry, shaping the outlook that would drive the next generation of artists away from Romanticism towards Symbolism, and beyond. Paris Spleen (1869), a posthumous collection of prose poems, is considered one of the nineteenth century’s greatest works of literature.

Reviews for Fanfarlo

[jonfaith · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Only poets are innocent enough to invent such monstrosities.

Perhaps I should have enjoyed this more. It appeared jerky, fissured with jump cuts and unsettling twitches. I realized early that this reminded me of Balzac , who handles this theme better. It has been a strange 10 days and this may have bled into my reading.

A misfit man of letters encounters a childhood flame and helps to fix a man doing his lady wrong. This is achieved by wooing the wrong. This won't dissuade me from my Baudelaire fascination, though I may be making more room for Brecht, Beckett and Genet in coming days.

Postscript: Sometimes sleeping after a review will forge an additional vantage. Not this time. I would like to read Sartre's book on Baudelaire.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was the second selection from Melville House's Novella Book Club this month. I don't generally get on well with French literature or historical books about France so even though I was game to give this short read my best effort I wasn't too impressed. Very verbose with flowery and excessive language. Paragraphs could have been written in a sentence or omitted altogether. Divided mainly into 3 parts, one on the poet, one on the poet's friend, a spurned wife, and the last on the poet and an actress, Fanfarlo, and their love affair. I really had not much of a clue what was going on until the end of the spurned wife's story where finally they get to the point and a small plot develops. Baudelaire was a poet and this is supposed to be his only work of prose, which is good as I have no inclination to read him again. But at least I feel I've broadened my horizons a bit with this read and become a tad more [sic] edjificated :-)

[fieldnotes_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Firstly, this is a 50 page short story; this edition of the book looks more meaty because it also contains the entire text in French.Generally, I like Baudelaire and there are moments when the prose of "La Fanfarlo" shows some of his wit and poetic sensibility. But much of the story suffers from his pretension and his need to drop unnecessary and distracting literary references all over the place. It's a young man's book; so these are not surprising errors. The book is very much in dialogue with the French authors that Baudelaire wished to dethrone and it prevents his authentic and individual voice from emerging.Though it does have a few interesting thoughts on jealousy, attraction and relationships. Some good parts: "Men caught in the snare of their own mistakes do not like to make an offering of their remorse on the alter of clemency."" . . . sitting on the edge of the bed with the insouciance, the triumphant serenity of the adored woman . . . ""What aura of such magical charm does vice cast around certain creatures? What crooked, repulsive aspect does their virtue impart to certain others?"