Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
Intimate Journals
Flares and My Heart Laid Bare · French with an independent English translation.
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English Page · Branch 10 of 118
Flares · IX
French
p. 19Suggestions. Fusées. — Les nations n’ont de grands hommes que malgré elles, — comme les familles. Elles font tous leurs efforts pour n’en pas avoir. Et ainsi, le grand homme a besoin, pour exister, de posséder une force d’attaque plus grande que la force de résistance développée par des millions d’individus.
A propos du sommeil, aventure sinistre de tous les soirs, on peut dire que les hommes s’endorment journellement avec une audace qui serait inintelligible si nous ne savions qu’elle est le résultat de l’ignorance du danger.
Intimate Journals: Flares
p. 20Suggestions. Flares. — Nations have great men only in spite of themselves, — like families. They make every effort to have none. And so, in order to exist, a great man needs an attacking force greater than the resisting force developed by millions of individuals.
Of sleep, the sinister adventure of every night, one may say that men fall asleep each day with a boldness that would be incomprehensible if we did not know it was the result of ignorance of the danger.
Socrates
Reading Intimate Journals · Flares · Flares · IX
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Charles Baudelaire’s private fragments turn from art, love, and crowds to prayer, anger, work, and the discipline of writing. This complete bilingual edition presents all 117 sections of Flares and My Heart Laid Bare, including Hygiène, with an introduction and 104 explanatory notes.
Historical Text and Translation
The French follows Adolphe van Bever’s 1920 edition of Journaux intimes, printed pages 3–42 and 45–112. Its 117 Roman-numbered sections contain the complete Fusées and Mon cœur mis à nu, including Hygiène. These fragments were arranged after Baudelaire’s death; their printed sequence preserves that edition’s organization of loose sheets. The separate selection of maxims on love and the editor’s backmatter are outside this volume.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the French. Flares and My Heart Laid Bare retain the fragments’ abrupt turns, repetitions, images, and unfinished projects. French and English paragraphs remain paired, with verse, italics, and printed annotations preserved. The introduction places the notebooks in context; translator’s notes clarify references, ambiguities, and uncertain readings. All 104 notes meet the reader’s Essential criterion and remain available beside their passages.
Rights
Baudelaire’s historical French text and the 1920 printing are in the public domain in the United States. The independent English translation, introduction, and new editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. The linked facsimile and catalogue identify the printed source, while a historical transcription supplies a comparison witness. Original annotations retain their attribution, and source references distinguish the printed arrangement from the surviving manuscript sheets.