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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French Page · Branch 46 of 118
My Heart Laid Bare · Mon cœur mis à nu · XLV
French
p. 91Observons que les abolisseurs de la peine de mort doivent être plus ou moins intéressés à l’abolir.
Souvent, ce sont des guillotineurs. Cela peut se résumer ainsi : « Je veux pouvoir couper ta tête, mais tu ne toucheras pas à la mienne. »
Les abolisseurs d’âmes (matérialistes) sont nécessairement des abolisseurs d’enfer ; ils y sont, à coup sûr, intéressés.
Tout au moins, ce sont des gens qui ont peur de revivre, — des paresseux.
Intimate Journals: My Heart Laid Bare
p. 92Let us note that those who would abolish the death penalty must have more or less of a personal interest in abolishing it.
Often they are guillotiners. This can be summed up as follows: “I want to be able to cut off your head, but you will not touch mine.”
Those who abolish souls (materialists) necessarily abolish hell; they certainly have a personal interest in doing so.
At the very least, they are people who are afraid of living again—idlers.
Socrates
Reading Intimate Journals · My Heart Laid Bare · My Heart Laid Bare · XLV
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.