Whanganui artist David Cauchi, who began learning French only a few years ago, has translated, illustrated and published Pissed off Paris, Charles Baudelaire’s book of poems.
The original text Le Spleen de Paris was a collection of 50 prose poems by Baudelaire published in 1869 on the subjects that obsessed him: the city, the crowd, the plight of the poor, the role of the poet, sex, and drugs.
Cauchi started learning French to understand passages in the art books he was reading but his interest in the language led to producing an entire text translation of Bauldelaire’s poems.
Pissed off Paris includes 70 drawings alongside Baudelaire’s poems but Cauchi said these were a “standalone element” rather than illustrations of the text.
Cauchi also involved his partner Rose Miller in the process as she designed the book.
Translating Pissed off Paris began as a 2020 lockdown project for Cauchi as he wanted to create a book that explored “the interaction of image and text”.
