Le Voyage de Baudelaire aux Mascareignes

by Jean Urruty

En route for the Indies, a ship endured a terrible storm and dropped anchor in Port Louis, Mauritius. On board was the 20 year-old poet Charles Baudelaire. Little is known of what he did there; but this is the extensively researched record of what can be established of his time in the Indian Ocean. He made the acquaintance of M. Autar de Bragard, to whose wife he dedicated his famous sonnet A une damme créole. He also spent 45 days at Bourbon (now La Réunion). The Mascareignes islands inspired A une Malabaraise, which features in Les Epaves collection; La Chevelure is undoubtedly a vision of Port Louis; whilst Parfum exotique, Correspondances, and La vie antérieure are amongst the masterpieces evoking the islands. His poem Le Voyage wonderfully evokes the Mascareignes. Baudelaire did not continue his voyage and returned to France, the time in the islands having constituted a major emotional disruption, which is reflected in his work. The title is in the French language.

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