Baudelaire's Le Spleen de Paris
Subtitle: Shifting Perspectives
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 246
ISBN-13: 9781315096520
Subjects: 19th Century Literature; Spleen de Paris (Baudelaire, Charles)
Description: "Maria Scott's study of the operation of irony in Baudelaire's Le Spleen de Paris contends that the principal target of the collection's spleen is its own readership. Baudelaire, as one of the most perceptive cultural commentators of the nineteenth century, was naturally very keenly aware of the growing dominance of the bourgeoisie in France, not least as a market for art and literature. Despite being dependent on this market for his own writing, the poet was highly critical of bourgeois values and attitudes. Scott builds on existing criticism of the collection to argue that these are indirectly mocked in Le Spleen de Paris, often in the person of the poet's supposed textual alter ego. The contention is that the prose poems betray the trust of readers by way of an apparent transparency of meaning that functions to blind us to their embedded irony. Though focused on Le Spleen de Paris, Scott's study engages with the full range of Baudelaire's writings, including his art and literary criticism. Her book will be of interest not only to Baudelaire scholars but also to those engaged more generally with nineteenth-century French culture."--Provided by publisher.
Table of contents: title: Chapter Introduction; title: chapter 1 Caricature; title: chapter 2 Prostitution; title: chapter 3 Morality; title: chapter 4 Allegory; title: chapter 5 Aesthetics.