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Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

Charles Baudelaire

Intimate Journals

Flares and My Heart Laid Bare · French with an independent English translation.

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Intimate JournalsMy Heart Laid Bare · LXX

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Facing Pages · Branch 71 of 118

My Heart Laid Bare · LXX

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French

p. 141

Il n’y a de grand parmi les hommes que le poète, le prêtre et le soldat.

L’homme qui chante, l’homme qui sacrifie et se sacrifie.

Le reste est fait pour le fouet.

Défions-nous du peuple, du bon sens, du cœur, de l’inspiration et de l’évidence.

141

Intimate Journals: My Heart Laid Bare

p. 142

Among men, only the poet, the priest and the soldier are great.

The man who sings, the man who sacrifices and sacrifices himself.

The rest are made for the whip.

Let us distrust the people, common sense, the heart, inspiration and the obvious.

142

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.