The Flowers of Evil, which T. S. Eliot called the greatest example of modern poetry in any language, shocked the literary world of nineteenth century France with its outspoken portrayal of lesbian love, its linking sexuality and death, its unremitting irony, and its unflinching celebration of the seamy side of urban life. The volume was seized by the police, and Baudelaire and his published were put on trial for offence to public decency. Six offending poems were banned, in a conviction that was not overturned until 1949. This bold new translation, which restores the banned poems to their original places and reveals the full richness and variety of the collection, makes available to English speakers a powerful and original version of the world. Jonathan Culler's Introduction outlines this vision, stressing that Baudelaire is more than just the poet of the modern city. Originally to be called 'The Lesbians', The Flowers of Evil contains the most extraordinary body of love poetry. The poems also pose the question of the role of evil in our lives, of whether there are not external forces working to frustrate human plans and to enlist men and women on appalling or stultifying scenarios not of their own making.

夏尔·波德莱尔（Charles Baudelair, 1821-1867），法国诗人。作品有诗集《恶之花》和散文诗集《巴黎的忧郁》，另写有大量文学和美学论文。他被认为是使欧洲人的经验方式和写作方式发生重大变革的作家，他的美学理论在诗歌和艺术史上是一个重大转折点，是现代主义各流派灵感与理论的不尽泉源。

郭宏安，1943年生，吉林省长春市人，原籍山东莱芜县。毕业于北京大学西语系和中国社会科学院研究生院外国文学系。现任中国社会科学院外国文学研究所研究员，博士生导师，兼任该所学术委员会副主任，中国社会科学院比较文学研究中心主任。中国作家协会会员。