The Flowers of Evil (English: Les Fleurs du Mal)

A collection of poems by French poet Baudelaire. Published in 1857. The first edition, which contains 101 poems, is divided into five chapters: "Melancholy and the Ideal," "Flowers of Evil," "Rebellion," "Wine," and "Death." The opening poem, "To the Reader," declares that the theme is boredom rooted in the sinful state of human beings, and that we must escape from it by any means possible. The poet's glory and misery are sung, and then the vacillation between "melancholy and the ideal," in which persistent boredom is opposed by a constant desire for beauty and a conviction of a time filled with happiness and love, is described. Attempts to escape through vice, rebellion against God, drunkenness, and death are always unsuccessful. However, even though all human beings live in evil, the hope that only the poet can extract beauty from evil has not been abandoned. Shortly after the publication of this first edition, a court ordered the deletion of six poems for violating public morals. The 1861 reprint, which is today considered the original text, excludes those six poems and includes new poems, for a total of 127 poems. The arrangement of the psalms and chapters is slightly different from the first edition, and the new edition is composed of six chapters: "Melancholy and Ideals," "Scenes from Paris," "Wine," "Flowers of Evil," "Rebellion," and "Death." The tone of hope present in the first edition has faded, and the tone of curses and despair has become stronger.

This collection of poems, which combines unique lyricism, horror, and ironic insight, became the starting point not only of symbolist poetry but of modern Western poetry in general. As the appeal in "To the Reader" makes clear, "Hypocritical Reader, my kind, my brother!", with this book poetry ceased to be merely a literary genre, but became a way of life, an existential attitude, that did not allow the reader to remain a bystander.

[Makoto Yokobari]

"The Flowers of Evil, translated by Shintaro Suzuki (Iwanami Bunko)" ▽ "The Flowers of Evil, translated by Yoshio Abe (included in the Collected Works of World Literature 55, 1981, Kodansha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスの詩人ボードレールの詩集。1857年刊。101編を収めた初版は、「憂鬱(ゆううつ)と理想」「悪の華」「反逆」「葡萄酒(ぶどうしゅ)」「死」の5章からなる。巻頭の詩「読者に」が、主題は人間の罪深い情況に根ざす倦怠(けんたい)であり、あらゆる手段をもってこれから逃れなくてはならぬことを告げる。詩人の栄光と悲惨が歌われ、ついで、執拗(しつよう)な倦怠に、美への絶え間ない希求、幸福と愛に彩られた時への確信が対抗するといった「憂鬱と理想」との間の揺れが描かれる。悪徳、神への反逆、酔い、死という逃避の試みを待つのはつねに失敗である。だが、人間すべてが悪のなかで生きているにせよ、唯一詩人は悪から美を抽出できるという希望は捨てられていない。この初版は刊行直後、公衆道徳良俗侵害の科(とが)で裁判所から6編の削除を命令された。今日底本とされる1861年の再版はその6編を除き、新作を加えて127編を収める。初版とは詩篇(しへん)および章の配列が微妙に異なって、「憂鬱と理想」「パリ風景」「葡萄酒」「悪の華」「反逆」「死」の6章構成となり、初版にあった希望の色は薄れ、呪(のろ)いと絶望の調子が強まっている。

　独特の叙情と戦慄(せんりつ)と皮肉な洞察が交錯するこの詩集は、象徴詩のみならず西欧近代詩全般の原点となった。また、「読者に」の「―偽善の読者よ、―私の同類、―私の兄弟よ！」の呼びかけが明らかにしているとおり、この書とともに、詩は単なる文学の一ジャンルではなくなり、読者に傍観を許さぬ一つの生き方、実存の態度となった。

［横張　誠］

『鈴木信太郎訳『悪の華』（岩波文庫）』▽『阿部良雄訳「悪の華」（『世界文学全集55』所収・1981・講談社）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例