The Arcades Project - Operi

only if one took out a subscription." Ernest Raynaud, Ch. Baudelaire (Paris,
1922), p. 319. Baudelaire's own conduct is the complement of this state of affairs.
He would offer the same manuscript to several different journals and authorize
reprints without acknowledging them as such. [J 41 a, 7J
Baudelaires essay of 1859 on Gautier: 'Gautier . .. could not have misinterpreted
the piece. This is made clear by the fact that, in writing the preface to the 1863
edition of Les Fleurs du mal, he wittily repaid Baudelaire for his essay." Ernest
Raynaud, Ch. Baudelaire (Paris, 1922), p. 323. [J41a,8J
'In other respects, what witnesses most tellingly to the evil spell of those times is
the story of Balzac, . .. who . .. all his life fairly cudgeled his brains to mastcr a
style, without ever attaining one . ... [Note:] The discordancy of those times is
underscored by the fact that the prisons of La RoqueUe and Mazas were built with
the same gusto with which Liberty Trees were planted everywhere. Bonapartist
propaganada was harshly suppressed, but the ashes of Napoleon were brought
home . ... The center of' Paris was cleared and its streets were opened up, but the
city was strangled with a belt of fortifications." Ernest Raynaud, Ch. Bau.delaire
(Paris , 1922), pp. 287-288. [J41a,9J
Mter referring to the marriage of' ancient Olympus with the wood sprites and
fairies of Banville: "'For his part, little wishing to join the ever-swelling procession
of imitators on the high road of Romanticism, Charles Baudelaire looked about
him for a path to originality . . . . Where to cast his lot? Great was his indecision
. ... Then he noticed that Christ, Jehovah, Mary, Mary Magdalene, the angels,
and "their phalanxes' all occupied a place in this poetry, but that Satan never
appeared in it. An error in logic; he resolved to correct this . ... Victor Hugo had
made la diablerie a fantastic setting for some ancient legends. Baudelaire, in contrast,
actually incareerated modern man-the man of the nineteenth century-in
the prison of hell. " Alcide Dusolier, Nos Gens de lettres (Paris, 1864), pp. 105-106
(" M. Charles Baudelaire").
[J42,1J
"He certainly would have made an excellent reporter for d,e witchcraft trials."
Alcide Dusolier, Nos Gens de lettres (paris, 1864), p. 109 ("M. Ch. B;'). Baudelaire
must have eloyed reading that. [J42,2J
With Dusolier, considerable insight into details, but total absence of any perspective
on the whole: "Obscene mysticism, or, if you prefer, mystical obscenityhere,
I have said and I repeat, is the double character of Les Fleurs du mal." Alcide
Dusolier, Nos Gens de lettres (Paris, 1864), p. 112. [J42,3J
I.I.We would reserve nothing, not even praise. I attest then to the presence, in
M. Baudelaire's poetic gallery, of certain tableaux parisiens (I would have preferred
eau.x-fortes as a more accurate and more characteristic term)