Baudelaire's 'Le Spleen de Paris': Shifting Perspectives by Maria C. Scott

Abstract

MLR, I0I.4, 2oo6 1129 The second section offers us a parallel reading by Sarga Houssa of the Voyage en Orient as done by Lamartine and by Nerval, followed by Hisashi Mizuno's work manlike analysis of Nerval's commentaries onWagner's aesthetics: there is nothing particularly new in either paper. The third article, by Corinne Bayle, presents a fas cinating confrontation of Nerval's sonnet sequence Le Christ aux Oliviers with two paintings by Chasseriau of the same subject. There are some original insights into both Nerval and Chasseriau, as well as into the relationships between poetry and painting. It is in the third section, 'Figurations', that we find the most interesting contri butions of the volume. In a concise and brilliant article, Bertrand Marchal unpacks the symbolic and thematic ramifications of the chimere for both the sonnet sequence bearing the name and forNerval's work as awhole. Daniel Sangsue analyses anumber of aspects of the theme of revenance and the figure of the mort vivant inNerval, and as the final paper in this section Michel Brix offers a study of the impossible erotics of Nerval, in both its ironic and pathetic dimensions. The final section, 'Voisinages', is themost heterogeneous and least satisfying group of papers. However, one article, Jerome Thelot's virtuoso study of the slim output of Maurice de Guerin, makes some suggestive rapprochements with Nerval around the themes of memoire and poesie. All in all, this collection is a timely contribution toNerval studies in the run-up to the bicentenary of his birth, with a sufficient number of interesting papers tomake this volume aworthwhile acquisition for a specialist library. UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES MAURICE BLACKMAN Baudelaire's 'Le Spleen de Paris': Shifting Perspectives. By MARIA C. SCOTT. (Stu dies in European Cultural Transition, 29) Aldershot: Ashgate. 2005. 238 pp. ?47.50. ISBN o-7546-5IiI-8. The principal aim of this study of Baudelaire's prose poems is an examination of the shifting perspectives on the viewpoint of the narrator, who, we are frequently reminded, must not be confused with the poet himself. It comprises five chapters on perspectives current in recent criticism: caricature, prostitution, morality, allegory, and aesthetics. The author makes no claim to being exhaustive. Indeed, her approach is consciously limited and partial, focusing on about two-thirds of the collection. The emphasis throughout is on the poet's taste formystification and the consequent nar rative, aesthetic, and moral uncertainties that have stimulated the ingenuity of recent commentators. By her own confession she rarely ventures a totalizing explanation, being forced by the nature of the subject to perpetuate the sense of uncertainty. The author appears in total command of the critical corpus that has grown round Le Spleen de Paris and her erudition is nothing if not impressive, but the reader cannot on oc casion avoid a sense of frustration at the emerging critical stasis. The commentaries abound with qualifying expressions such as 'itmay be that', 'itmight be', 'possibly', 'it is possible that', 'itwould seem', somuch so that one is led towonder what exactly has been gained by so many tentative interpretations. For example, the chapter on prostitution contains a fascinating discussion of the social and legal conditions in nineteenth-century Paris. This together with an account of Regnier's satire, which Baudelaire mentions, leads to a possible 'alternative perspective' (p. 72) thatMade moiselle Bistouri's obsession with doctors and surgery could have had something to do with abortion. Scott stresses that such a diagnosis is purely hypothetical, but jus tified because it underlines our 'incomplete knowledge of "Mademoiselle Bistouri" and of its author's intentions' (p. 72). But there is confusion here between the poem, which is relatively transparent, and the character, who remains amystery. Any one II30 Reviews explanation would greatly diminish the impact and the scope of the poem, and go counter to the poet's intention, which is to convey the scandal and mystery ofmadness and of the 'monstre innocent'. Echos from other works are sometimes made to influence the possible reading of a poem without due regard to context. The title of 'Le Chien et le flacon' recalls the prologue toGargantua, which compares the diligent reader to a...