Baudelaire and Modernity in Paris
Thesis Page
by Jon Rachmani
In the Mid 1800's, during Charles Baudelaire's career as poet,
art critic, and essayist, he was largely unrecognized and dismissed
as a depraved pornographer, but his deep emotional reflections of
Paris and his influence on its future are great nonetheless. He
was a modern thinker on social, political and cultural fronts. His
poetry reflects the despair and isolation of the modern city dweller
as well as the transcendent journey from city world to one's own
subconscious. He was confirmed in his opposition to authoritarian
rule in his participation in demonstrations and riots against Louis-Philip
and Napoleon
Bonapart. He was most recognized in his time from his art criticism
and philosophy. He conceptualized the impressionist
movement before it fully developed. The theme of evolution from
the Romantic
to the Modern lies in all that Baudelaire wrote and did. Through
his writings a great sense of placement and displacement in Modern
Paris can be attained. His personal struggles with depression and
sexual dissatisfaction are emblematic of his city's modern pains
and confusion.
Links
- Point A: Modernity and Baudelaire's Personal
History
- Point B: Les Fleurs du Mal as
a document of Parisian Modernity
- Point C: Baudelaire and the Birth of
Impressionism in Painting and Prose Poetry
- Back to E-Band Paris
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