Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), was one of the founding and most influential poets of modern literature. His masterpiece, The Flowers of Evil, is known for its keen psychological insight into the dark side of human nature.

Edward K. Kaplan is a professor at Brandeis University and an award-winning French translator.

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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