Baudelaire and the Flowers of Censorship

This year marks the bicentenary of Baudelaire’s birth. The greatest French poet, Charles Baudelaire, was born on April 9, 1821, and the tribute was doubled through the Francophonie.

Baudelaire is an author Evil flowers, a collection filled with primary references to sexuality, sensuality, and lesbianism, among others.

By emphasizing this Christmas, we also emphasize the fact that two centuries ago, Baudelaire was censored by the French state. like what , cancel culture Nothing new. But is it better or worse today?

Unethical act?

I watched a great documentary about the poet over the weekend, Baudelaire modern and anti-modern, Broadcasting on France 5.

We remind you that when it is released, the collection bad flowers He was attacked on charges of “violating public morals and good morals”.

During a famous trial, prosecutor Ernst Bennard said the collection contained “obscene and immoral passages or expressions”. In 1857, Baudelaire was convicted and six poems were withdrawn from the collection. Can you imagine the scene? The six poems are torn by hand, one by one, from the already printed collections!

I was overwhelmed by the interview between host Lea Salama and Teresa Cremise, the famous French editor. It gives shivers down your spine.

Leah Salameh: Today, Baudelaire will come out bad flowersWill you be censored?

Teresa Crimici: No, the moral indicator is moving.

Lisa: What are we watching today?

TK: You know, we censor a lot of things that are politically incorrect. We ask that you do not put it in advance because you will be on trial.

Lisa: Is it, in a way, worse than the state censorship of two centuries ago?

TC: I think it’s worse. The court is now on the networks and in the streets. So, finally, we’ll be thinking nostalgic about Ernst Bennard shortly.

Lisa: Oh yeah? “

Like Leah Salama, I am amazed by a famous publisher’s announcement that we will soon lose sight of the time the prosecutor ordered the book’s pages to be torn off.

Karimissi is right: Today’s censorship is worse because it is more subtle.

At Baudelaire’s time, if you were brought to trial, you could argue and plead your case. at 21^e Century, your experience is going on on Twitter and Facebook, and you can’t do anything about it. You were found guilty before you even said a word. Talk to JK Rowling, author Harry Potter…

In Baudelaire’s time, we tore the pages of the book to remove the annoying typeface. Today, you are told to “shut up” before you can print it.

The word that begins with the letter C

Baudelaire was censored for “outrages upon public morals and good morals”. Today, how many authors, thinkers, historians, and professors are under censorship for “an assault on the political correctness and good morals of the Knights of Social Justice”?