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.

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Intimate JournalsMy Heart Laid Bare · Mon cœur mis à nu · CVIII

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French Page · Branch 109 of 118

My Heart Laid Bare · Mon cœur mis à nu · CVIII

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 217

Sonnet à citer dans Mon cœur mis à nu. Citer également la pièce sur Roland.

Je songeais cette nuit que Philis revenue, Belle comme elle était à la clarté du jour, Voulait que son fantôme encore fît l’amour, Et que, comme Ixion, j’embrassasse une nue.Son ombre dans mon lit se glisse toute nue, Et me dit : « Cher Damon, me voici de retour ; Je n’ai fait qu’embellir en ce triste séjour Où depuis mon départ le sort m’a retenue,« Je viens pour rebaiser le plus beau des amants ; Je viens pour remourir dans tes embrassements. » Alors, quand cette idole eut abusé ma flamme,Elle me dit : « Adieu ! Je m’en vais chez les morts. Comme tu t’es vanté d’avoir f... mon corps, Tu pourras te vanter d’avoir f... mon âme. »

Parnasse satyrique.

Je crois que ce sonnet est de Maynard. Malassis prétend qu’il est de Théophile.

T96.The sonnet and its disputed attributionThe attribution remains uncertain. The governing print gives Maynard versus Théophile; the latter is Théophile de Viau in Baudelaire’s letter to Sainte-Beuve, which records competing claims for de Viau, Racan and Maynard and allows that all three may be wrong. Malassis is his publisher Auguste Poulet-Malassis. The Gutenberg comparison names Racan where the 1920 notebook prints Théophile. French retains the printed f... twice; English restores ⟨fucked⟩ from the comparison’s unabridged foutu. The source prints three verse blocks (4/4/6 lines); the paired text distinguishes the four metrical stanzas (4/4/3/3). The separate reminder about Roland has not been securely identified.Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed pp. 101–102 · Baudelaire, letter to Sainte-Beuve, Letters 1907, printed p. 354 · BnF, Auguste Poulet-Malassis · Project Gutenberg 13792, French comparison

T97.Ixion and the cloudIxion embraces a cloud made to resemble Hera, as in Pindar’s Pythian II. The sonnet uses that myth for the encounter with a deceptive shade. French nue means cloud, while toute nue in the next line means entirely naked, producing a play on the same sound.Pindar, Pythian II, especially lines 34–40 · Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed p. 101

Intimate Journals: My Heart Laid Bare

p. 218

Sonnet to quote in My Heart Laid Bare. Also quote the poem about Roland.

Last night I dreamed that Philis had returned, Beautiful as she was in the light of day, And wished her ghost to make love once again, And me, like Ixion, to embrace a cloud.

Her shade slips naked into my bed, And says: “Dear Damon, here I am again; I have only grown more beautiful in that sad place Where fate has held me since I went away,

“I come to kiss the fairest of lovers again; I come to die again in your embrace.” Then, when this idol had deceived my passion,

She said to me: “Farewell! I go back to the dead. As you have boasted of having ⟨fucked⟩ my body, You may boast of having ⟨fucked⟩ my soul.”

Parnasse satyrique.

I think this sonnet is by Maynard. Malassis claims it is by Théophile.

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.