tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post92617921060829794..comments2023-12-30T17:31:11.883+00:00Comments on The Solitary Walker: The Flowers of Evil: a New TranslationThe Solitary Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-1588491787632025392020-12-04T16:50:22.514+00:002020-12-04T16:50:22.514+00:00Coincidence? Very very slowly, along with the same...Coincidence? Very very slowly, along with the same pace of reading your translation of Les Fleurs du Mal, I've been reading a bilingual version of Pablo Neruda's Macchu Picchu (to supplement my study of Spanish). Yesterday morning I had a vague sense that Pablo Neruda must have read Baudelaire. The Neruda poem I read this morning (that begins "La poderosa muerte me invitó muchas veces ...") prompted me to go to Google and see if there is a connection. Yes indeed. <br /><br />https://pablo-neruda2-france.blogspot.com/2008/12/el-enemigo-charles-baudelaire.html<br /><br />It is not possible for me to read more than one Baudelaire poem at a time. Many leave me deeply unsettled but not to the point that I have stopped reading them. It just occurred to me that they are the verbal equivalent of the art work of Francis Bacon, which can draw me in with its brilliant use of color and composition while keeping me off balance emotionally with its imagery. Oddly enough, a surprisingly upbeat college art professor whose art was all about death asked if my chalk pastel figure drawings in the 1980s were influenced in any way by Francis Bacon.<br /><br />As I write, another connection occurs to me -- Gerhard Richter -- who was brought to my attention by Sabine recently. Sabine commented that my recent mandalas reminded her of Gerhard Richter's new stained glass windows in a German monastery. A little Googling resulted in finding this:<br /><br />"Richter is said to embody a modern incarnation of Charles Baudelaire's 'painter of modern life'."<br /><br />Perhaps Baudelaire's poems are having an effect on my mandala series.<br /><br />Hope that you will return to blogging someday but I am guessing you have other projects in motion.<br /><br />Gratefully,<br />amamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09212213177713917828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-85858669751498509242020-07-24T12:30:53.834+01:002020-07-24T12:30:53.834+01:00Thanks so much for your message, Gail! It's ni...Thanks so much for your message, Gail! It's nice to be missed.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-52666819445998198532020-07-23T18:34:03.653+01:002020-07-23T18:34:03.653+01:00Wonderful to see a new post on this blog, and cong...Wonderful to see a new post on this blog, and congratulations on the successful completion of what must have been an intense project. <br />Can we hope that the next gap between posts will be less than three years? <br />Cheers, Gail. WFT Nobbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14315143664245246248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-37293237966838150982020-07-21T17:59:22.398+01:002020-07-21T17:59:22.398+01:00Thanks, Dominic! I am very pleased you are enjoyin...Thanks, Dominic! I am very pleased you are enjoying it.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-82236901189690143172020-07-20T08:06:24.152+01:002020-07-20T08:06:24.152+01:00I have read Baudelaire in French with (on account ...I have read Baudelaire in French with (on account of my hit and miss French, which you are familiar with!) the help of a prose translation. I've read a few poems from your translation now and can say that I think you've really captured not just the meaning but also the spirit of Baudelaire. I expect my copy to become well-thumbed.Sackersonhttps://sackerson.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-33104487443496990912020-07-11T19:24:30.267+01:002020-07-11T19:24:30.267+01:00Thanks for reading and commenting, Pat (Weaver of ...Thanks for reading and commenting, Pat (Weaver of Grass)!The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-5160391542944984582020-07-11T19:21:36.104+01:002020-07-11T19:21:36.104+01:00How nice to hear from you again, Morelle, and yes,...How nice to hear from you again, Morelle, and yes, I feel very pleased the project is finally completed! As I say in the introduction, it was mainly a joy, but often frustrating, even a little frightening at times ... the thing is (as, I suppose, with all writing, not just translating), it is never really finished, as it can always be improved... a comma here, a semi-colon there, a different word here, a different phrase there...The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-40987659662656203692020-07-11T19:14:57.321+01:002020-07-11T19:14:57.321+01:00Wow, yes, some synchronicity, am! I came across th...Wow, yes, some synchronicity, am! I came across the New Directions book while researching other Baudelaire translators and translations. I like the connection you make between Baudelaire's evil flowers and the Buddhist lotus flower emerging from the mud, though I'm not sure Baudelaire's 'ideal' always transcends his 'spleen'; in fact, it often seems quite the reverse...<br /><br />To be sure, there are affinities with Blake:<br /><br />'The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.' <br /><br />'Without contraries there is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate are necessary to human existence.' <br /><br />'Every Harlot was a Virgin once.'<br /><br />'O Rose thou art sick.<br />The invisible worm,<br />That flies in the night<br />In the howling storm:<br /><br />Has found out thy bed<br />Of crimson joy:<br />And his dark secret love<br />Does thy life destroy.'<br /><br />All of this is very Baudelairean; and don't forget Blake was the poetic mirror of London, just as Baudelaire was the poetic mirror of Paris. (I don't know if Baudelaire had read Blake—it is quite possible.) TS Eliot was certainly influenced by both. Dylan also, as you astutely point out.<br /><br />In my opinion the best modern translator of Baudelaire is a woman—Jan Owen, whose translations were praised by Les Murray, no less. If I ever received such an endorsement I would be very happy indeed! <br />The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-44963546641173954712020-07-11T18:07:33.409+01:002020-07-11T18:07:33.409+01:00How wonderful to see you back on your blog Robert,...How wonderful to see you back on your blog Robert, and to see what has kept you occupied for the past 3 years, and that you have completed it, what a marvellous feeling that is. Well done, I'm off to order a copy. Oh and I really like that philosopher's comment that reading is translation to begin with (or something similar) because in the small amounts of translation I've done, I'm so familiar with all those doubts too ...dritanjehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16025213970107184429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-51543484233360177922020-07-10T22:59:59.580+01:002020-07-10T22:59:59.580+01:00Some synchronicity. After ordering a copy of your...Some synchronicity. After ordering a copy of your translation, I went on a long walk. Toward the end of this particular walk I stopped at a free book box that I check regularly. There was a hardback copy of The Flowers of Evil, selected and edited by Marthiel and Jackson Mathews, featuring 30 translators, published by New Directions in 1955.<br /><br />It is occurring to me that "flowers of evil" might be something like the lotus flower that grows out of mud. Bob Dylan has addressed similar themes from the beginning and continues along those lines in this song from 2012:<br /><br />"... In Scarlet Town the end is near<br /><br />The seven wonders of the world are here<br /><br />The evil and the good living side by side ..."<br /><br />Now I can see how Bob Dylan's songs in recent years are showing the influence of Baudelaire, especially the songs released in the past few weeks.<br /><br />Reading a few of the translations of Baudelaire's poems available to me now, I am seeing something of William Blake which I love and must admit I feel some apprehension, too. I'm struck by Baudelaire's preface: It is not for my wives, my daughters, or my sisters that this book has been written; nor for the wives, daughters, or sisters of my neighbors. I leave that to those who have some reason to confuse good deeds with fine language.<br /><br />It is intriguing to me that four of the translators in the book that appeared so mysteriously are women.<br /><br />Okay. That's what's on my mind. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />amhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09212213177713917828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-46085040849973594632020-07-08T19:22:55.710+01:002020-07-08T19:22:55.710+01:00The cat poem is perfect for any cat lover Robert. ...The cat poem is perfect for any cat lover Robert. It is just so good to see you back in Blogland again. Considering the amount of work you have done over the last three years it is not surprising you have been absent.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-18849699237302810352020-07-08T19:08:36.178+01:002020-07-08T19:08:36.178+01:00One thing leads to another indeed. Did you know Ba...One thing leads to another indeed. Did you know Baudelaire was a huge admirer of Poe and introduced him to France by translating much of his work? He felt a great affinity with him.<br /><br />The Dylan record - what a surprise!<br /><br />Good to hear from you, AmandaThe Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-41182806520857416682020-07-08T18:43:43.035+01:002020-07-08T18:43:43.035+01:00Good to see your post today and to know that a cop...Good to see your post today and to know that a copy of your three years of work can be ordered online and delivered soon. When I looked at a photo of Charles Baudelaire, I thought it was a photo of Edgar Allen Poe. One thing leads to another.<br /><br />"... Got a tell-tale heart, like Mr. Poe ..."<br /><br />Gratefully,<br />amamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09212213177713917828noreply@blogger.com