Baudelaire et Sainte-Beuve

This study offers a close‑up look at the lifelong friendship between the celebrated poet and the influential critic, tracing their exchanges from youthful admiration to the final years of the poet’s life. First published as a modest pamphlet in 1914, the new edition enriches the original text with detailed notes, source references, and an unpublished chapter that sheds fresh light on the emotional currents beneath their public interactions.

The author follows a series of letters and articles that reveal the poet’s steadfast devotion to the critic, even as the latter’s public acknowledgments remain scarce. By juxtaposing the poet’s enthusiastic recommendations of contemporary works with the critic’s hesitant or absent responses, the book paints a nuanced portrait of mutual respect, dependence, and the quiet tensions that shaped their literary world. Readers will gain a clearer sense of how this relationship influenced the poet’s creative output and his place in the broader cultural conversation.