The Parisian Prowler - Tapa dura

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) is widely regarded as France's greatest poet. His "Les Fleurs du Mal" launched a literary revolution in Europe, ushering in the modern era. "The Parisian Prowler", Edward Kaplan's rendering of "Le Spleen de Paris" is the first translation of Baudelaire's neglected masterpiece in over 40 years. The 50 prose pieces that compose "The Parisian Prowler" offer, in Baudelaire's words, a "description of modern life, or rather of "one" modern and more abstract life". These fables about beggars, widows, clowns and other solitary figures reveal the writer's sense of beauty. Yet at times, he appears to repudiate standards of charity, social equality, or even the quest for artistic perfection. Illustrated with drawings from the period by Manet, Daumier, Delacroix, Whistler, Callot, Guys and Baudelaire himself, "The Parisian Prowler" is intended as a companion to Baudelaire's poetry. In his repeated voyages of initiation, in his search for community and family, the narrator of "The Parisian Prowler" confronts the reader with Baudelairean juxtapositions - ambiguity and judgement, kindness and cruelty, anger and generosity - which undermine any reassuring interpretation. In the end, readers must form their own reponses.