A Cadaver in clothes: autobiography and the Dandy in Baudelaire.(Charles Baudelaire)(Critical Essay) From: The Romanic Review | Date: January 1, 2005| Author: Burt, E.S. | COPYRIGHT 2005 Columbia University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

"Le Dandy ... doit vivre et dormir devant un miroir." Baudelaire

Baudelaire's work is far from self-evidently autobiographical. Les Fleurs du mal, for instance, cannot be easily compared to a self-declared poetic autobiography like Hugo's Contemplations where the poems are of decidedly personal inspiration, bear dates that attach them to experience, and lay out a plausible narrative of poetic development. In contrast, Baudelaire's undated poems appear impersonal and, in...