Evil Flower

Author: Baudelaire
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: The Flowers of Evil by the great French poet Baudelaire is a poetic masterpiece that portrays the psychopathology and social pathology of the West. However, pathology is not necessarily devoid of beauty. Baudelaire's genius lies precisely in his ability to discover beauty in the world of evil and to sense the presence of evil in the experience of beauty, transforming decay into wonder through poetry. Therefore, in a certain sense, The Flowers of Evil is an "art of evil," not a hymn to evil. When The Flowers of Evil was first published publicly, the author was accused of "profaning religion" and "corrupting public morals," fined, and later became a topic of heated debate in literary circles. Today, however, it is praised extensively, its status in world literary history continues to rise, not only included in literature textbooks but also frequently listed as a required course in universities. How can the fate of one person and one poem be so vastly different?—The historical fate of Baudelaire and The Flowers of Evil is a manifestation of social pathology, because society itself is a "flower of evil."