波特莱尔(1821～1867年)

Baudelaire, Charles (-Pierre)

法国诗人。在还是法律系学生时就对鸦片和大麻上了瘾，并染上梅毒。早期他在衣着和家具方面十分考究，挥金如土，最後只能举债度日。1844年他与一名黑人女子珍.杜瓦交往，激发灵感写了一些优秀的诗作。1847年出版唯一的一本小说《芳法洛》。1852年发现爱伦坡的着作，之後几年他潜心研究其作品，因而写出许多技巧高超的翻译和评论性文章。他的名声主要建立在1857年出版的不同凡响的诗集《恶之华》上，书中涉及色情、美学和社会题材，使许多中产阶级读者大为惊骇，因而被控犯有诲淫和亵渎罪。虽然该书名成为堕落的谑称，然而这本书可能是19世纪欧洲出版的最具影响力的抒情诗集。他的《散文集》（1868）对散文诗作了重要和革新的实验。波特莱尔还写了一些引起争议的艺术评论文章。晚年因幻想破灭、绝望和债台高筑而变得十分郁闷，四十六岁死於梅毒。他被视为法国最早和最优秀的现代主义诗人。

English version：

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.