什麼是波特萊爾

Baudelaire, Charles (-Pierre)

法國詩人。在還是法律系學生時就對鴉片和大麻上了癮，並染上梅毒。早期他在衣着和傢俱方面十分考究，揮金如土，最後只能舉債度日。1844年他與一名黑人女子珍.杜瓦交往，激發靈感寫了一些優秀的詩作。1847年出版唯一的一本小説《芳法洛》。1852年發現愛倫坡的着作，之後幾年他潛心研究其作品，因而寫出許多技巧高超的翻譯和評論性文章。他的名聲主要建立在1857年出版的不同凡響的詩集《惡之華》上，書中涉及色情、美學和社會題材，使許多中產階級讀者大為驚駭，因而被控犯有誨淫和褻瀆罪。雖然該書名成為墮落的謔稱，然而這本書可能是19世紀歐洲出版的最具影響力的抒情詩集。他的《散文集》（1868）對散文詩作了重要和革新的實驗。波特萊爾還寫了一些引起爭議的藝術評論文章。晚年因幻想破滅、絕望和債台高築而變得十分鬱悶，四十六歲死於梅毒。他被視為法國最早和最優秀的現代主義詩人。

1821～1867年

Baudelaire, Charles (-Pierre)

French poet. While a law student, he became addicted to opium and hashish and contracted syphilis. His early reckless spending on fine clothes and furnishings would lead to a life dogged by debt. In 1844 he formed an association with a black woman, Jeanne Duval, who would inspire some of his finest poetry. He published a single novel, La fanfarlo, in 1847. His discovery of the works of Edgar Allan Poe in 1852 led to many years of work on Poe, which produced many masterly translations and critical articles. His reputation rests primarily on the extraordinary poetry collection Les fleurs du mal (1857; The Flowers of Evil), which dealt with erotic, aesthetic, and social themes in ways that appalled many of his middle-class readers, and he was convicted of obscenity and blasphemy. Though the title became a byword for depravity, the book became perhaps the most influential collection of lyrics published in Europe in the 19th century. His Petits poèmes en prose (1868) was an important and innovative experiment in prose poetry. He also wrote provocative essays in art criticism. His later years were darkened by disillusionment, despair, and mounting debt; his death at 46 resulted from syphilis. He is regarded as the earliest and finest poet of modernism in French.