Poe's Influence on French Literature

In France, where he is commonly known as "Edgar Poe" Poe's works first arrived when two French papers published separate (and uncredited) translations of Poe's detective story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". A third newspaper, La Presse, accused the editor of the second paper, E. D. Forgues, of plagiarizing the first paper. Forgues explained that the story was original to neither paper, but was a translation of "les Contes d'E. Poe, littérateur américain." ("the stories of E. Poe, American author.") When La Presse did not acknowledge Forgues' explanation of the events, Forgues responded with a libel lawsuit, during which he repeatedly proclaimed, "Avez-vous lu Edgar Poe? Lisez Edgar Poe." ("Have you read Edgar Poe? Read Edgar Poe!") The notoriety of this trial promoted his name thoughout Paris, gaining the interest of many poets and writers.

Among these was Charles Baudelaire, who translated almost all of Poe's stories and several of the poems into French. His excellent translations meant that Poe enjoyed a vogue among avant garde writers in France while being ignored in his native land. Poe also exerted a powerful influence over Baudelaire's own poetry, as can be seen from Baudelaire's obsession with macabre imagery, morbid themes, musical verse and aesthetic pleasure.

In a draft preface to his most famous work, Les Fleurs du Mal , Baudelaire lists Poe as one of the authors whom he plagiarized. Baudelaire also found in Poe an example of what he saw as the destructive elements of bourgeois society. Poe himself was critical of Democrcracy and Capitalism . (in his story "Mellonta Tauta," Poe proclaims that "democracy is a very admirable form of government-for dogs" ), and the tragic poverty and misery of Poe's biography seemed, to Baudelaire, to be the ultimate example of how the bourgeoisie destroys genius and originality. Raymond Foye, editor of the book The Unknown Poe, put Baudelaire's and Poe's shared political sympathies this way: But both in their own territory; the arrogance of loneliness.
Poe's anti-democratic views persuaded Baudelaire to abandon his socialism, and if these two men shared a single political preference it was Monarchy.
The later authors Paul Valéry and Marcel Proust were great admirers of Poe, the latter saying "Poe sought to arrive at the beautiful through evocation and an elimination of moral motives in his art." (from wiki)

EDIT:
Charles Baudelaire, the poet responsable for the excellent translations was a powerful poet himself. A serious try to translate one of his poems from French to English showed me soon enough how impossble that job is.

As goes:

l' Albatros

Souvent, pour s'amuser les hommes d'équipage--Often, as passtime the sailor's crew's members
Prennent des albatros, vastes oiseaux des mers- Take albatrosses, vast birds of the seas
Qui suivent, indolents compagnons de voyage,-- That follow, indolent trav'ling companions,
Le navire glissant sur les gouffres amers. ------- The ship that slides on the bitter gulfs.

A peine les ont-ils déposés sur les planches,----Hardly have they put them down on the deck
Que ces rois de l'azur, maladroits et honteux,/These kings of the blue sky,clumsy and embarrassing
Laissent piteusement leurs grandes ailes blanches-When miserably they let hang their large white wings
Comme des avirons traîner à côté d'eux. -------To drag like oars alongside of them.

This is the raw and nearset literal translation. Only it lacks the end rhyme on a
A-B-A-B
D-C-D-C --- scheme.( And more!) The rythm is already a problem and more so when you insist on the end- rhyme.

So , Baudelaire must have done a superb job on the EA.Poe translations to make them so popular in France en other Euro- countries.

I wonder if a native English speaker could improve the English side of the poem and in the above end-rhyme scheme.
That would be a fantastic achievment. I defenitely can't.

Ah! of course, to add: the second two couplets of the poem talk some more about the loss of the Albatros's grandeur once he's grounded and make the giant bird a metaphore for poets, who like the bird are exiled on the ground.

Last edited by BranShea; 02/07/07 02:32 PM.