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 · CXVI

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English Page · Branch 117 of 118

My Heart Laid Bare · CXVI

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 233

Hygiène. Conduite. Morale. — Jeanne 300, ma mère 200, moi 300, — 800 fr. par mois. Travailler de six heures du matin, à jeun, à midi. Travailler en aveugle, sans but, comme un fou. Nous verrons le résultat.

Je suppose que j’attache ma destinée à un travail non interrompu de plusieurs heures.

Tout est réparable. Il est encore temps. Qui sait même si des plaisirs nouveaux... ?

Gloire, payement de mes dettes. — Richesse de Jeanne et de ma mère.

Je n’ai pas encore connu le plaisir d’un plan réalisé.

Puissance de l’idée fixe, puissance de l’espérance.

L’habitude d’accomplir le devoir chasse la peur.

Il faut vouloir rêver et savoir rêver. Evocation de l’inspiration. Art magique. Se mettre tout de suite à écrire. Je raisonne trop.

Travail immédiat, même mauvais, vaut mieux que la rêverie.

Une suite de petites volontés fait un gros résultat.

Tout recul de la volonté est une parcelle de substance perdue. Combien donc l’hésitation est prodigue ! Et qu’on juge de l’immensité de l’effort final nécessaire pour réparer tant de pertes !

L’homme qui fait sa prière, le soir, est un capitaine qui pose des sentinelles. Il peut dormir.

Rêves sur la mort et avertissements.

Je n’ai jusqu’à présent joui de mes souvenirs que tout seul ; il faut en jouir à deux. Faire des jouissances du cœur une passion.

Parce que je comprends une existence glorieuse, je me crois capable de la réaliser. O Jean-Jacques !

Le travail engendre forcément les bonnes mœurs, sobriété et chasteté, conséquemment la santé, la richesse, le génie successif et progressif, et la charité. Aye quod agis.

Poisson, bains froids, douches, lichen, pastilles, occasionnellement ; d’ailleurs, suppression de tout excitant.

Lichen d’Islande. . . . 125 grammes.

Sucre blanc. . . . . . 250 —

Faire tremper le lichen, pendant douze ou quinze heures, dans une quantité d’eau froide suffisante, puis jeter l’eau. Faire bouillir le lichen dans deux litres d’eau sur un feu doux et soutenu, jusqu’à ce que ces deux litres se réduisent à un seul litre, écumer une seule fois ; ajouter alors les 250 grammes de sucre et laisser épaissir jusqu’à la consistance de sirop. Laisser refroidir. Prendre par jour trois très grandes cuillerées à bouche, le matin, à midi et le soir. Ne pas craindre de forcer les doses, si les crises étaient trop fréquentes.

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

T103.The Latin maxim of attentionThe print reads Aye quod agis. This is probably a typographical error for the familiar Age quod agis: Do what you are doing, with the sense of giving the task one’s full attention. Larousse’s historical dictionary explains that meaning. French preserves Aye; the brackets in English ⟨Do⟩ mark the repaired imperative. Its authorial origin cannot be determined from this witness. The preceding appeal to Jean-Jacques is retained as an invocation; no exact quotation is supplied.Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universel, Age quod agis · Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed p. 110

T104.Iceland lichen and the historical syrupLichen d’Islande is Iceland moss, the lichen Cetraria islandica. The sugar row’s dash repeats the unit grams. The recipe’s quantities and sequence are translated as printed. Crises is rendered attacks because the notebook does not name the condition being treated. The botanical identification does not establish a diagnosis or explain the recipe’s origin.European Medicines Agency, Lichen islandicus: botanical identity · Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed pp. 110–111

Intimate Journals: My Heart Laid Bare

p. 234

Hygiene. Conduct. Morals. — Jeanne 300, my mother 200, myself 300,—800 fr. a month. Work from six in the morning, on an empty stomach, until noon. Work blindly, without a goal, like a madman. We shall see the result.

I suppose that I tie my destiny to several hours of uninterrupted work.

Everything can be repaired. There is still time. Who knows even whether new pleasures...?

Glory, payment of my debts. — Wealth for Jeanne and my mother.

I have not yet known the pleasure of a plan fulfilled.

The power of the fixed idea, the power of hope.

The habit of doing one’s duty drives out fear.

One must will to dream and know how to dream. Summoning inspiration. Magic art. Begin writing at once. I reason too much.

Immediate work, even bad work, is worth more than daydreaming.

A succession of small acts of will produces a great result.

Every retreat of the will is a particle of substance lost. How wasteful hesitation is! And consider the magnitude of the final effort needed to make good so many losses!

The man who says his prayer in the evening is a captain who posts sentries. He can sleep.

Dreams about death and warnings.

Until now I have enjoyed my memories only in solitude; they must be enjoyed by two. Make the pleasures of the heart a passion.

Because I understand a glorious existence, I believe myself capable of achieving it. O Jean-Jacques!

Work necessarily engenders good morals, sobriety and chastity, and consequently health, wealth, genius that develops step by step, and charity. ⟨Do⟩ what you are doing.

Fish, cold baths, showers, lichen, lozenges, occasionally; also, eliminate every stimulant.

Iceland lichen . . . . 125 grams.

White sugar . . . . . 250 —

Soak the lichen for twelve or fifteen hours in a sufficient quantity of cold water, then throw away the water. Boil the lichen in two litres of water over a gentle, steady heat until the two litres are reduced to one; skim once only; then add the 250 grams of sugar and let it thicken to the consistency of syrup. Let it cool. Take three very large tablespoonfuls a day, in the morning, at noon and in the evening. Do not be afraid to increase the doses if the attacks are too frequent.

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.