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 · CXIII

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English Page · Branch 114 of 118

My Heart Laid Bare · CXIII

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 227

Notes précieuses. — Fais, tous les jours, ce que veulent le devoir et la prudence.

Si tu travaillais tous les jours, la vie te serait plus supportable. Travaille six jours sans relâche.

Pour trouver des sujets, Γνωθί σεαυτόν. (Liste de mes goûts.)

Sois toujours poète, même en prose.

Grand style (rien de plus beau que le lieu commun).

Commence d’abord, et puis sers-toi de la logique et de l’analyse. N’importe quelle hypothèse veut sa conclusion.

Trouver la frénésie journalière.

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

T99.Know yourselfThe Greek is the Delphic maxim Know yourself, recorded in Plato’s Protagoras 343b. The print gives Γνωθί σεαυτόν, with an acute on the final iota of the first word and an unaccented omega; the conventional form is γνῶθι σεαυτόν. French retains the printed accents, and English gives its meaning.Plato, Protagoras 343b · Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed p. 105

Intimate Journals: My Heart Laid Bare

p. 228

Precious notes. — Do every day what duty and prudence demand.

If you worked every day, life would be more bearable. Work six days without a break.

To find subjects, Know yourself. (List of my tastes.)

Always be a poet, even in prose.

Grand style (nothing is more beautiful than the commonplace).

Begin first, and then use logic and analysis. Any hypothesis whatever calls for its conclusion.

Find the daily frenzy.

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.