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 · CXV

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French Page · Branch 116 of 118

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

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 231

Hygiène. Morale. Conduite. — Trop tard peut-être ! — Ma mère et Jeanne. — Ma santé par charité, par devoir ! — Maladies de Jeanne. Infirmités, solitude de ma mère.

— Faire son devoir tous les jours et se fier à Dieu, pour le lendemain.

— La seule manière de gagner de l’argent est de travailler d’une manière désintéressée.

— Une sagesse abrégée. Toilette, prière, travail.

— Prière : charité, sagesse et force.

— Sans la charité, je ne suis qu’une cymbale retentissante.

— Mes humiliations ont été des grâces de Dieu.

— Ma phase d’égoïsme est-elle finie ?

— La faculté de répondre à la nécessité de chaque minute, l’exactitude, en un mot, doit trouver infailliblement sa récompense.

Le malheur qui se perpétue produit sur l’âme l’effet de la vieillesse sur le corps : on ne peut plus remuer ; on se couche...

D’un autre côté, on tire de l’extrême jeunesse des raisons d’atermoiement ; quand on a beaucoup de temps à dépenser, on se persuade qu’on peut attendre des années à jouer devant les événements.

CHATEAUBRIAND

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

T101.Charity, grooming and punctualityThe resounding cymbal recalls 1 Corinthians 13:1. Charité here includes Christian love, extending beyond almsgiving. Toilette covers dressing and personal grooming, hence Grooming in the abbreviated rule. Exactitude has the historical sense of attending punctually and regularly to one’s duties; punctuality follows the fragment’s demand to answer the need of each minute.1 Corinthians 13:1, AELF · Académie française, toilette, 1835 · Académie française, exactitude, 1835 · Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed pp. 106–107

T102.The shortened Chateaubriand passageBoth italic passages come from Mémoires d’outre-tombe, fourth part, book IX, in a reflection on lasting misfortune and youthful delay. The notebook omits intervening text. In the second passage, Chateaubriand’s fuller wording has attendre; on a des années à jouer, while the governing notebook compresses this to attendre des années à jouer. French retains that compression; English renders it as waiting for years, playing in the face of events. The precise edition Baudelaire used has not been established.Chateaubriand, Mémoires d’outre-tombe, fourth part, book IX · Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed pp. 107–108

Intimate Journals: My Heart Laid Bare

p. 232

Hygiene. Morals. Conduct. — Too late, perhaps! — My mother and Jeanne. — My health, out of charity, out of duty! — Jeanne’s illnesses. My mother’s infirmities and solitude.

— Do one’s duty every day and trust in God for tomorrow.

— The only way to earn money is to work without self-interest.

— Wisdom in brief. Grooming, prayer, work.

— Prayer: charity, wisdom and strength.

— Without charity, I am only a resounding cymbal.

— My humiliations have been graces from God.

— Is my phase of selfishness over?

— The ability to answer the need of each minute—punctuality, in a word—must unfailingly find its reward.

Misfortune that persists has the same effect on the soul as old age on the body: one can no longer move; one lies down...

On the other hand, extreme youth supplies reasons for delay; when one has much time to spend, one persuades oneself that one can wait for years, playing in the face of events.

CHATEAUBRIAND

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.