The Flowers of Evil

The poetry of Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) is astonishing - it is always modern in all eras and retains its subtle aroma of novelty.
It is no coincidence that translators continue to turn to the work of the great poet, revealing the... many facets of his writings. This book collects poems from the famous "Flowers of Evil," "Fragments," "The Belgian Miracle," as seen by Mikhail Yasnov (1946-2020) - a talented poet and translator known to readers through dozens of books. Classic sonnets, epigrams, prose poems - the rich literary legacy of Baudelaire presents itself to us in vivid, beautiful, sensitive, at times unexpected, and highly skilled translations. Before us stands a completely new Charles Baudelaire - sometimes a lyricist, sometimes a "bitter and merciless wit," at times unfamiliar, but invariably beautiful, modern, and eternal.
 
From the Publisher
Charles Baudelaire is always contemporary, his work represents a unique page in the history of literature. Baudelaire's works belong to the world of the everlasting, the eternally beautiful.
His poetry, prose, essays, and even pressing journalism remain modern in all eras. It is no coincidence that translators continually return to Charles Baudelaire, revealing the various facets of his works. The book presented to the reader collects translations by Mikhail Yasnov (1946-2020), a St. Petersburg poet, children's writer, literature researcher, and translator known to us from dozens of books.
The work of Mikhail Yasnov is unique, and his interpretation of Baudelaire is equally unique; it resembles a living dialogue. The conversation between two poets touches the soul of a sensitive reader.
This collection was prepared after the death of Mikhail Yasnov based on materials from his extensive legacy. The invaluable contributions to this work were made by translators and philologists Alla Smirnova and Elena Baevskaya; the publisher expresses its sincere gratitude to them.
The collection of translations of Charles Baudelaire will take its rightful place among the bilingual books in the "Bilingua" series, prepared by Mikhail Yasnov, including works by Apollinaire, Sandrar, Mallarmé, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Valéry, Cocteau, Prévert, and Karem.
A whole history of French poetry!
The collection of Baudelaire envisioned by Mikhail Yasnov, unfortunately, remains unfinished. However, quite a lot was translated - from the famous "Flowers of Evil," "Fragments," and "The Belgian Miracle." Unfortunately, Mikhail Yasnov did not manage to write an afterword, deep and subtle as he typically accompanied his translated books. And he had much to say about Baudelaire, whose translations he published since the 1990s. We did not find it appropriate to write about the history of the Russian Baudelaire and his perception instead of Yasnov himself.
Only his voice should sound here.
And one more thing. In our common plans with Mikhail Yasnov, Mikhail Davidovich, for some - Misha, were other French poets. It no longer matters which ones. The miracle will not come true.