French Literature Reviews - 2026

André Guyaux, Half a Century of Readings of Les Fleurs du Mal. 1855-1905 (reprint)
Poetry and Poetics

Delivering a lecture on Baudelaire in Monaco on February 19, 1924, Valéry begins with these words: "Baudelaire is at the height of glory." In the meantime, what has happened? With a few exceptions—Gautier, Banville, and Leconte de Lisle, who were also poets—Baudelaire's contemporaries saw nothing in his poetry but lineWidth expression of the "bizarre": it was the "Kamchatka" of Romanticism, where Sainte-Beuve exiled it. Yet, in the 1860s, a promise emerged: while in exile in Brussels in 1866, the poet spoke to his mother of a "Baudelairean school".

André Guyaux studied at the Université libre de Bruxelles and later defended his thesis at the Sorbonne. He was a Professor of French Literature at the University of Haute-Alsace in Mulhouse from 1981 to 1994, and subsequently a Professor of 19th-century French Literature at Paris-Sorbonne University, which became the Faculty of Arts at Sorbonne University in 2018. Since 2019, he has been Professor Emeritus at this university, where he taught for twenty-five years.

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Acta Fabula had reviewed the first edition of this anthology (2007):

"The Century of Baudelaire" by Matthieu Vernet.

This volume traces the fascinating evolution of Charles Baudelaire's critical reception from the initial publication of Les Fleurs du Mal in 1855 through the turn of the twentieth century. While the poet's contemporaries largely dismissed the work as bizarre or eccentric, later generations gradually recognized its revolutionary aesthetic. By examining contemporary reviews, essays, and changing critical perspectives up to 1905, the book illustrates how a collection once marginalized by mainstream critics ascended to the very pinnacle of modern poetic glory, laying foundational stones for subsequent literary movements.

André Guyaux brings extensive scholarly expertise in nineteenth-century French literature to this comprehensive anthology of reception history. The work offers valuable insights for students, researchers, and poetry enthusiasts seeking to understand how canonical reputations are forged over time. By mapping the shift from early incomprehension to canonical celebration, the book addresses broader questions about literary value, taste, and the complex relationship between an author and their evolving readership across generations.