From Culprit to Victim: Baudelaire and the Lawsuit against The Flowers of Evil

How did the banned and therefore suspect poet of The Flowers of Evil become the persecuted and misunderstood author immortalized by literary history? How was Baudelaire able to turn a seemingly unfortunate situation to his advantage? Baudelaire was able to use the scandal triggered by the publication of The Flowers of Evil to promote his public persona. The analysis of the discursive postures deployed by Baudelaire before, during and after the trial will enable us to better understand how the poet inverted his condemnation, transforming the legal and moral sanctions, and the exclusion they entailed, into a sign of his greatness and posthumous glory.