Alessandro Tota's graphic novel drops Charles Baudelaire into contemporary Bari

Alessandro Tota (Bari, 1982), a seasoned Italian cartoonist based in Paris and co-founder of the magazine Canicola, has published 'Charles' with Coconino/Fandango. The book is a collection of short illustrated stories created over different periods, assembled in a format closer to an artist's sketchbook than a novel. Each story depicts the irreverent adventures of Charles Baudelaire, mysteriously transported to present-day Bari. There, the poet meets a ragtag group of lazy teenagers who befriend him, first as a mentor and then as a friend despite the age gap. Tota portrays Baudelaire as an old punk—tender and awkward at times, grumpy and restless at others—who struggles with mood swings and deep anxieties. Tota says he developed the character after reading Baudelaire's diaries, which revealed an intellectual prone to mocking his contemporaries and conventions. Stripped of 19th-century attire but retaining his dandy soul, Baudelaire wears a denim jacket and black combat boots, hanging out with the kids, smoking on park benches, and drinking discount wine on post office steps. The stories mix comedy and paradox, with Baudelaire offering poetic pearls that enchant and move his companions. Tota notes that making Baudelaire contemporary was easy because classics are inherently timeless, but his version is an invention, like an actor preparing a role. The book is 96 pages, costs €10, and was published in Bologna in 2016.