Mohammed Bin Rashid Library Embraces French Poetry With Charles Baudelaire

Dubai, UAE, 22 August 2025:

As part of its program that aims to celebrate foreign culture and literature, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library, in cooperation with Alliance Francaise Dubai, organised a French literary evening titled 'Readings from the Poetry of Charles Baudelaire: Between Light and Shadows'. The evening was presented by researcher Said Nourine, president of the association, and moderated by translator Ghassan Nabbout.

The evening highlighted Baudelaire’s world, as one of the most iconic figures of modern poetry in the nineteenth century, through a critical reading and cultural dialogue that addressed key milestones in his life and works.

Nourine reviewed Baudelaire's biography, which was characterised by the struggle between downfall and rise, explaining how exile, suffering, and family rejection were reflected in his career, transforming pain into a source of creativity. He also examined the pivotal tension in Baudelaire's poetry 'Spleen and Ideal', demonstrating how he was able to transform boredom and alienation into poetic energy.

The session addressed the contrast in Baudelaire's poems, where the duality of evil and transcendence intertwined in a structure that blends human seduction with the desire for elevation through art. It explained Baudelaire’s aesthetic vision based on paradox and contradiction. Nourine compared the poetry of Baudelaire and Al-Mutanabbi, highlighting the points of convergence between the two poets in their belief in the poetic self and the intensification of the human experience in its tragic and existential dimensions.

With a large turnout, the discussions and readings were an opportunity to reflect on Baudelaire's poetic duality between light and shadows, and to learn about new approaches that connect Western and Arabic literary experiences.

Through these events, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library seeks to reinforce its role as a beacon of knowledge and culture, fostering dialogue between cultures and bringing readers closer to the world's most prominent literary experiences. This strengthens Dubai's position as a hub for thought and creativity.