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 · LXXV

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French Page · Branch 76 of 118

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

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 151

Nadar, c’est la plus étonnante expression de vitalité. Adrien me disait que son frère Félix avait tous les viscères en double. J’ai été jaloux de lui à le voir si bien réussir dans tout ce qui n’est pas l’abstrait.

Veuillot est si grossier et si ennemi des arts qu’on dirait que toute la démocratie du monde s’est réfugiée dans son sein.

Développement du portrait. Suprématie de l’idée pure chez le chrétien comme chez le communiste babouviste.

Fanatisme de l’humilité. Ne pas même aspirer à comprendre la religion.

T69.Nadar and his brotherNadar and Félix here refer to Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, the photographer and caricaturist; Adrien is his brother, the painter and photographer Adrien Tournachon. The claim that Félix had all his internal organs in duplicate is reported as Adrien’s remark, in a paragraph about extraordinary vitality.BnF, Les Nadar · BnF, Nadar and Poland

T70.Veuillot and BabouvismVeuillot is the journalist Louis Veuillot (1813–1883). Babouvist denotes a follower of Gracchus Babeuf’s political and social doctrine, which advocates community of goods and state intervention to secure equality. Baudelaire’s comparison concerns the supremacy of the pure idea in the Christian and the Babouvist communist. The reminder to develop the portrait does not specify whose portrait is meant.BnF, Louis Veuillot · Académie française, babouvisme

Intimate Journals: My Heart Laid Bare

p. 152

Nadar is the most astonishing expression of vitality. Adrien told me that his brother Félix had all his internal organs in duplicate. I was jealous of him when I saw him succeed so well in everything that is not abstract.

Veuillot is so coarse and so hostile to the arts that one would think all the democracy in the world had taken refuge in his breast.

Development of the portrait. Supremacy of the pure idea in the Christian as in the Babouvist communist.

Fanaticism of humility. Not even to aspire to understand religion.

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.