Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

Charles Baudelaire

Intimate Journals

Name: Intimate Journals
Author: Charles Baudelaire

Flares and My Heart Laid Bare · French with an independent English translation.

Explore the Lexicon

Intimate JournalsMy Heart Laid Bare · CXIV

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

English Page · Branch 115 of 118

My Heart Laid Bare · CXIV

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 229

Hygiène. Conduite. Morale. — Deux parts. Dettes (Ancelle).

Amis (ma mère, amis, moi).

Ainsi, 1.000 francs doivent être divisés en deux parts de 500 francs chacune, et la deuxième divisée en trois parties.

A Honfleur. — Faire une revue et un classement de toutes mes lettres (deux jours) et de toutes mes dettes (deux jours). (Quatre catégories, billets, grosses dettes, petites dettes, amis.) Classement de gravures (deux jours). Classement de notes (deux jours).

T98.Hygiène and the dated self-descriptionHygiène historically concerns the preservation of health. Here the headings extend a regimen into conduct, prayer and work. These final numbered sections belong to Mon cœur mis à nu in the governing 1920 arrangement. The date 23 January 1862 is attached to the self-description in CIX; it does not date the entire group. Hysteria and imbecility render Baudelaire’s own historical vocabulary in that fragment.Académie française, hygiène, 1878 · BnF, Baudelaire chronology · Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed pp. 102–112

T100.Honfleur, Ancelle and the household budgetsBaudelaire’s mother, Caroline Aupick, lived at Honfleur after 1857; Jeanne is Jeanne Duval. Narcisse Ancelle was the notary appointed to administer Baudelaire’s finances. In the debt categories, billets has its financial sense of promissory notes. The separate proposed allocations are preserved: two 500-franc shares in CXIV, a total of 800 francs a month in CXVI, and four shares in CXVII. They are plans in the notebook, not a verified account of actual payments.BnF, Charles Baudelaire and his mother · Académie française, billet, 1835 · Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed pp. 103, 105–112

Intimate Journals: My Heart Laid Bare

p. 230

Hygiene. Conduct. Morals. — Two shares. Debts (Ancelle).

Friends (my mother, friends, myself).

Thus, 1,000 francs must be divided into two shares of 500 francs each, and the second divided into three parts.

At Honfleur. — Review and sort all my letters (two days) and all my debts (two days). (Four categories: promissory notes, large debts, small debts, friends.) Sort engravings (two days). Sort notes (two days).

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.