Flowers of Evil

with banned poems

Introduction by Jean Charbonneau

The FLOWERS OF EVIL contains translations of Charles Baudelaire’s seminal volume of poetry LES FLEURS DU MAL, first published in 1857, and subsequently banned for verses then considered obscene and “an insult to public decency.” Six of the poems remained banned until 1949 and were not included in earlier volumes. The VegaTrope edition includes those six poems, including “Metamorphoses of the Vampire,” which has become a clazzic work in the vampire literary tradition.

The VegaTrope edition has been designed for ease of reading in eBook reading devices. Each poem appears on its own page out of respect for the dignity and scope of individual works.