Abstract: This article offers a reading of Les Chants de Maldoror and Poésies I et II in the light of three works of scientific and philosophical theory by Auguste Laugel (Les Problèmes de la nature, Les Problèmes de la vie, and Les Problèmes de l’âme). The analysis draws on theories including Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and the ideological upheavals it gave rise to. This reading reveals that Isidore Ducasse’s writing incorporates this great debate of the end of the nineteenth century.
