'Les Chants de Maldoror' was virtually ignored when first published in 1869, a year before the author's death in Paris in 1870. Decades later the Surrealists discovered the work and hailed Lautréamont as an important precursor to Surrealism. Elements of 'Maldoror' have since mitigated against a widespread awareness of the work, but much of its satire remains just as pertinent today.