Giveaway: Black Venus by James MacManus

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there. Today I have a wonderful giveaway for our US/CAN followers thanks to Media Muscle and Book Trib. Check out this historical fiction and be sure to enter to win a copy! 

Black Venus
by James MacManus
Publisher: Macmillan
Publication date: May 7, 2013
Genre: Adult Historical Fiction 
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 A vivid novel of Charles Baudelaire and his lover Jeanne Duval, the Haitian cabaret singer who inspired his most famous and controversial poems, set in nineteenth-century Paris. For readers who have been drawn to The Paris Wife, Black Venus captures the artistic scene in the great French city decades earlier, when the likes of Dumas and Balzac argued literature in the cafes of the Left Bank. Among the bohemians, the young Charles Baudelaire stood out—dressed impeccably thanks to an inheritance that was quickly vanishing. Still at work on the poems that he hoped would make his name, he spent his nights enjoying the alcohol, opium, and women who filled the seedy streets of the city. One woman would catch his eye—a beautiful Haitian cabaret singer named Jeanne Duval. Their lives would remain forever intertwined thereafter, and their romance would inspire his most infamous poems—leading to the banning of his masterwork, Les Fleurs du Mal, and a scandalous public trial for obscenity.  James MacManus's Black Venus re-creates the classic Parisian literary world in vivid detail, complete with not just an affecting portrait of the famous poet but also his often misunderstood, much-maligned muse.

Since this book is a fiction novel based upon the french poet Charles Baudelaire we thought it might be fun to share a poems from his masterwork which was banned in Black Venus; Les Fleurs du mal 

Les Fleurs du mal

Les Fleurs du mal translates to The Flowers of Evil and was written by the french poet Charles Baudelaire and first published in 1857. Here is a poem contained within its pages:

L'Invitation au voyage Mon enfant, ma soeur, Songe à la douceur D'aller là-bas vivre ensemble! Aimer à loisir, Aimer et mourir Au pays qui te ressemble! Les soleils mouillés De ces ciels brouillés Pour mon esprit ont les charmes Si mystérieux De tes traîtres yeux, Brillant à travers leurs larmes. Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté, Luxe, calme, et volupté. Des meubles luisantes, Polis par les ans, Décoreraient notre chambre: Les plus rare fleurs Mêlant leurs odeurs Aux vagues senteurs de l'ambre, Les riches plafonds, Les miroirs profonds, La splendeur orientale, Tout y parlerait A l'âme en secret Sa douce langue natale. Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté, Luxe, calme et volupté. Vois sur ces canaux Dormir ces vaisseaux Dont l'humeur est vagabonde; C'est pour assouvir Ton moindre désir Qu'ils viennent du bout du monde. —Les soleils couchants Revêtent les champs, Les canaux, la ville entière, D'hyacinthe et d'or; Le monde s'endort Dans une chaude lumière. Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté, Luxe, calme, et volupté.

Invitation to the Voyage Imagine, ma petite, Dear sister mine, how sweet Were we to go and take our pleasure Leisurely, you and I— To lie, to love, to die Off in that land made to your measure! A land whose suns' moist rays, Through the skies' misty haze, Hold quite the same dark charms for me As do your scheming eyes When they, in their like wise, Shine through your tears, perfidiously. There all is order, naught amiss: Comfort and beauty, calm and bliss. Treasure galore—ornate, Time-glossed—would decorate Our chamber, where the rarest blooms Would blend their lavish scent, Heady and opulent, With wisps of amber-like perfumes; Where all the Orient's Splendid, rich ornaments— Deep mirrors, ceilings fine—would each, In confidential tone, Speak to the soul alone In its own sweet and secret speech. There all is order, naught amiss: Comfort and beauty, calm and bliss. See how the ships, asleep— They who would ply the deep!— Line the canals: to satisfy Your merest whim they come From far-flung heathendom And skim the seven seas. —On high, The sunset's rays enfold In hyacinth and gold, Field and canal; and, with the night, As shadows gently fall, Behold! Life sleeps, and all Lies bathed in warmth and evening light. There all is order, naught amiss: Comfort and beauty, calm and bliss.

Selected Poem from Les Fleurs du mal A Bilingual Edition Charles Baudelaire

Translated by Norman R. Shapiro with engravings by David Schorr

Published by the University of Chicago Press  Copyright notice 

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