From the book
Intimate Journals
Charles Baudelaire · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordSurnaturalisme is one of the two fundamental literary qualities named in Fusées XVII, paired with irony.
- In Intimate JournalsThe definition in Fusées XVII proceeds from an individual view to qualities of expression.
- In this edition‘Supernaturalism’ preserves the term that the note immediately defines, while ‘the supernatural’ renders the following substantive.
- A place to readDeux qualités littéraires fondamentales : surnaturalisme et ironie.
Meaning
Surnaturalisme is one of the two fundamental literary qualities named in Fusées XVII, paired with irony. The note supplies its own explanation: an individual way of seeing, a general colour and accent, intensity, sonority, clarity, vibratory power, depth and resonance in space and time. This is a poetics of heightened relation and effect, not simply a demand to introduce ghosts.
The vocabulary crosses senses. Colour and accent join sound, vibration and depth, so no single medium owns the supernatural. The word concerns the strength and range with which things stand before a writer and become present in language.
Use in the book
The definition in Fusées XVII proceeds from an individual view to qualities of expression. Its syntax does not provide a finished taxonomy, but the explicit list keeps the entry from becoming a loose synonym for fantasy. A familiar scene may reveal the whole depth of life in an almost supernatural state of the soul. Nothing spectacular needs to happen in the visible scene; the transformation is in the intensity with which its relations become apparent.
The nearby claim that time and space sometimes deepen extends the account beyond heightened colour. Existence itself can feel enlarged. This can illuminate the movement of ships, music's excavation of the sky, and the demand for a whole narrative's atmosphere. These parallels are readings across fragments, not a theory that Baudelaire has systematically deduced.
Irony is indispensable to the pairing. The same notebook that seeks intensified vision repeatedly deflates inspired prophets, self-important writers and its own claims to grandeur. Supernaturalism without that counterforce could turn every heightened impression into unquestionable revelation. Irony without intensity could become mere dismissiveness. The notebook does not announce this balance in so many words, but placing the two qualities together makes their friction part of its literary program.
Places to read
- Fusées XVIIDeux qualités littéraires fondamentales : surnaturalisme et ironie. — The two qualities are paired rather than offered as alternatives.
- Fusées XVIIintensité, sonorité, limpidité, vibrativité, profondeur et retentissement — The note’s own list defines the field of heightened effects.
- Fusées XVIIle temps et l’étendue sont plus profonds — Intensity alters the felt dimensions of existence.
- Fusées XVIIsi ordinaire qu’il soit — Even an ordinary spectacle can become the scene of disclosure.
Translation in this edition
‘Supernaturalism’ preserves the term that the note immediately defines, while ‘the supernatural’ renders the following substantive. The edition's ‘vibratory power’ makes the uncommon vibrativité intelligible without deleting vibration from the sensory sequence. ‘Resonance’ for retentissement keeps extension through space and time audible; a purely social ‘impact’ would shift the argument. The wording ‘almost supernatural states’ retains presque, an important qualification of the later claim.