Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
Intimate Journals
Flares and My Heart Laid Bare · French with an independent English translation.
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My Heart Laid Bare · LXXXVIII
French
p. 177Etudier dans tous ses modes, dans les œuvres de la nature et dans les œuvres de l’homme, l’universelle et éternelle loi de la gradation, des peu à peu, du petit à petit, avec les forces progressivement croissantes, comme les intérêts composés, en matière de finances.
Il en est de même dans l’habileté artistique et littéraire ; il en est de même dans le trésor variable de la volupté.
Intimate Journals: My Heart Laid Bare
p. 178Study, in all its forms, in the works of nature and in the works of man, the universal and eternal law of gradation, of step by step, of little by little, with progressively growing forces, as with compound interest in finance.
The same holds for artistic and literary skill; the same holds for the fluctuating treasury of sensual pleasure.
Socrates
Reading Intimate Journals · My Heart Laid Bare · My Heart Laid Bare · LXXXVIII
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.