From the book
Intimate Journals
Charles Baudelaire · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAristocratie is both a claim about political government and a language of exceptional worth.
- In Intimate JournalsMon cœur mis à nu XLIV openly declares aristocratic government the only reasonable and secure form, dismissing democratic monarchy and republic together.
- In this edition‘Subject to taxes and compulsory labour’ unfolds taillables et corvéables without losing its historical dependence, while ‘made for the stable’ preserves the insult.
- A place to readSavoir, tuer et créer.
Meaning
Aristocratie is both a claim about political government and a language of exceptional worth. Fonction, by contrast, suggests a role that uses up its occupant's personality. These categories are not identical with inherited class: a dictator can be a servant, and a socially marginal artist can embody greatness.
The priest, warrior, and poet form an emphatic threefold exception. Their verbs in Mon cœur mis à nu XLIV are to know, kill, and create. The list dignifies power and sacrifice while exposing how violently the text devalues ordinary work.
Use in the book
Mon cœur mis à nu XLIV openly declares aristocratic government the only reasonable and secure form, dismissing democratic monarchy and republic together. It then assigns other people to taxes, compulsory labour, and the stable. The animalizing hierarchy is part of the proposition, not decorative language that can be discarded while retaining an innocuous defence of excellence.
Yet Mon cœur mis à nu LXVI calls dictators the people's servants: they adapt their minds to national stupidity. Mon cœur mis à nu C allows that officials and directors may be estimable but denies them divinity or originality. The target is not simply low social status; it is dependence on public demand and institutional function. The satire of editorial schoolmastering in Mon cœur mis à nu XLVII puts newspapers in the same chain as government and administration.
Mon cœur mis à nu XXVII's refusal of decorations adds another difficulty. Accepting a medal acknowledges the state's right to judge and confer distinction; pride and Christian humility can independently forbid it. Thus the notebook can demand hierarchy while refusing the actual hierarchies that certify merit. Its aristocracy of self-valuation remains in tension with its wish for ordered collective rule.
Places to read
- Mon cœur mis à nu XLIVSavoir, tuer et créer. — Three verbs define the exceptional roles with startling economy.
- Mon cœur mis à nu XLIVtaillables et corvéables — The hierarchy invokes compulsory fiscal and labour obligations.
- Mon cœur mis à nu LXVILes dictateurs sont les domestiques du peuple — Apparent sovereignty is reclassified as service.
- Mon cœur mis à nu Cdes personnes sans personnalité — The wordplay makes office a threat to individuality.
Translation in this edition
‘Subject to taxes and compulsory labour’ unfolds taillables et corvéables without losing its historical dependence, while ‘made for the stable’ preserves the insult. ‘Public servitude’ translates domesticité publique rather than neutral civil service. ‘Schoolmastering’ for pionnerie names the contemptuous supervision of writers. These choices keep the social violence and the linguistic pattern together.