From Thursday to Saturday, "The Flowering of Baudelaire" commemorated the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Baudelaire's famed "Les Fleurs du Mal." The three-day colloquium, in conjunction with the exhibit "Baudelaire & the Arts," considered the French poet's work and its relevance to other forms of art through panel discussions, musical performances, paper presentations and a reading.
A poetry reading by Michael Palmer and Keith Waldrop Thursday evening in filled-to-capacity Grant Recital Hall revealed Baudelaire's lasting legacy on the genre.
C.D. Wright, professor of english and a MacArthur Prize-winning poet, introduced Michael Palmer as "arguably the most French of American poets."
Palmer read selections from his original work, including "Baudelaire Series," which he told the audience address "a number of tones Baudelaire brought into lyric speech."
Keith Waldrop, professor of literary arts, succeeded Palmer with a reading of excerpts from his recently published translation of "Les Fleurs du Mal." Wright called Waldrop's translation, "a new entity that is faithful to Baudelaire ... rather than a pale reflection."
Friday's slate of events began with two paper presentations by Susan Bernstein, professor of comparative literature, and Ann Smock, professor of French at University of California at Berkeley. Following the presentation, the floor opened for questions, and an animated dialogue involving both speakers, Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron and Professor of History and Director of the Cogut Center for the Humanities Michael Steinberg ensued.
Other panels and roundtables on Friday and Saturday addressed a diversity of themes, such as "Pornography, Censorship and the Legacy of Les Fleurs du Mal," "Baudelaire and Ethics" and "Baudelaire and Colonialism."
"Beyond his own work, there are issues he deals with involving imagination, gender and global consciousness," said Steinberg, describing these topics as "key issues of the University and the humanities."
The John Hay Library exhibit "Baudelaire and the Arts" addresses these thematic elements and represent Baudelaire's "vast interest in the arts," said Dominique Coulombe, senior scholarly resources librarian, who curated the exhibit with three graduate students.
"The exhibit is meant to create context for the conference," Coulombe said, noting the "points of convergence" between the papers and the exhibit's subject matter.
The collection features poetry and visual art inspired by Baudelaire's writing, Baudelaire's translations of others' writing, translations of Baudelaire's poetry and examples of artwork that influenced Baudelaire's poetry. Visitors can also listen to Claude Debussy's "Le Balcon" and other musical renditions of Baudelaire's poetry, and one case in the exhibit features illustrations of the rapid modernization of 19th-century Paris that deeply influenced Baudelaire's work.
The exhibit uses Baudelaire's work to trace the development of art through the discourse between writer and writer, city and poet and painting and poem.
Coulombe emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of the exhibit, calling it "an example of a cooperative endeavor among faculty, the humanities center, graduate students, and individual departments."
This series of events and its exhibit comprised the third annual Fall Humanities Weekend sponsored by the Cogut Center for the Humanities, the Pembroke Center for Women and Teaching and other academic departments.
"The humanities deal with literature, philosophy and art, but also concern everything involving human life. They also inform the sciences in very important ways," said Steinberg.
"(Baudelaire) was a key figure of the 19th century and remains one today," Steinberg said. "And there is also the old-fashioned idea that poetry is incredibly beautiful."
