The Arcades Project - Operi

work of Poe, who thus became irreplaceable for him. Poe described the world iu
which Baudelaire's whole poetic enterprise had its prerogative. [J58,6]
The idea of Baudelaire's aesthetic Passion has given to many parties in the critical
literature on Baudelaire the character of an image d 'Epinal. These colored prints,
as is well known, often showed scenes from the lives of saints. [J58a,1]
There are weighty historical circumstances makiug the Golgotha-way of impo­
tence trod by Baudelaire iuto one marked out in advance by his society. Only this
would explain how it was that he drew, as traveling expenses along the way, a
precious old coiu from among the accumnlated treasures of this society. It was
the coiu of allegory, with the scythe-wielding skeleton on one side, and, on the
obverse, the figure of Melancholy plunged in meditation. [J58a,2]
That the stars do not appear iu Baudelaire is the surest indicator of that tendency
of lus poetry to dissolve illusory appearances."'o [J58a,3]
The key to Baudelaire's relationship with Gautier is to be sought iu the more or
less clear awareness of the younger man [?] that even in art his destructive
impulse encounters no iuviolable limit. In fact, such a 1inrit carmot withstand the
allegorical intention. Moreover, Baudelaire could hardly have written his essay
on Dupont if the critique of the concept of art entailed by the latter's established
practice had not corresponded to his own radical critique. In referriug to Gautiel;
Baudelaire successfully undertook to cover up these tendencies. [J58a,4]
In the fHineur, one nright say, is reborn the sort of idler that Socrates picked out
from the Athenian marketplace to be his iuterlocutor. Only, there is no longer a
Socrates. And the slave labor that guaranteed him his leisure has likewise ceased
to 8]
Streets of ill repute. Considering the importance of forbidden forms of sexuality
iu Baudelaire's life and work, it is remarkable that the bordello plays no role iu
either his private documents or his work. There is no counterpart, within this
sphere, to a poem such as "LeJeu:' The brothel is named but once: iu "Les Deux
Bonnes Soeurs:' [J58a,6]
For the flaneur, the "crowd" is a veil hiding the ('masses!'321 [J59,2]
That Hugo's poetry takes up the motif of table-turning is perhaps less notewor­
thy than the fact that it was regularly composed iu the presence of such phenom­
ena. For Hugo iu exile, the unfathomable, insistent swarm of the spirit world
takes the place of the public. [J59,3]
The primary interest of allegory is not liuguistic but optical. "Inlages-my great,
my priuutive passion:"" [J59,4]