The Arcades Project - Operi
The Arcades Project - Operi The Arcades Project - Operi
What concerned Baudelaire was not manifest and short-term demand, but latent and long-term demand. Les FleU1J du mal demonstrates not only that he correctly assessed such a demand but, in addition, that this sureness in evaluation is inseparable from his significance as a poet. [J61,10] One of the most powerful attractions of prostitution appears only with the rise of the metropolis-namely, its operation in the mass and through the masses. It was the existence of the masses that first enabled prostitution to overspread large areas of the city, whereas earlier it had been confined, if not to houses, at least to the streets. The masses first made it possible for the sexual object to be reflected simultaneously in a hundred different forms of allurement-forms which the object itself produced. Beyond this, salability itself can become a sexual stimulus; and this attraction increases wherever an abundant supply of women under scores their character as commodity. With the exhibition of girls'"'' in rigidly uniform dress at a later period, the music hall review explicitly introduced the mass-produced article into the libidinal life of the big-city dweller. [J 61 a, 1] As a matter of fact, if the rule of the bonrgeoisie were one day to be stabilized (which never before has happened, and never can) , then the vicissitudes of history would in actnality have no more claim on the attention of thinkers than a child's kaleidoscope, which with every tum of the hand dissolves the established order into a new array. As a matter of fact, the concepts of the ruling class have in every age been the mirrors that enabled an image of "order" to prevail. [J61a,2] In L'Eternite par les astls, Blanqui displayed no antipathy to the belief in prog ress; between the lines, however, he heaped scorn on the idea. One should not necessarily conclude from this that he was untrue to his political credo. The activity of a professional revolutionary such as Blanqui does not presuppose any faith in progress; it presupposes only the determination to do away with present injustice. The irreplaceable political value of class hatred consists precisely in its affording the revolutionary class a healthy indifference toward speculations con cerning progress. Indeed, it is just as worthy of humane ends to rise up out of indignation at prevailing injustice as to seek through revolution to better the existence of future generations. It is just as worthy of the human being; it is also more like the human being. Hand in hand with such indignation goes the firm resolve to snatch humanity at the last moment from the catastrophe looming at every tum_ That was the case with Blanqui. He always refused to develop plans for what comes "later:' [J61a,3] Baudelaire was obliged to lay claim to the dignity of the poet in a society that had no more dignity of any kind to confer. Hence the bozifJonnerie of his public appearances. [J62,1] The figure of Baudelaire has passed into his fame. For the petty-bourgeois mass of readers, his story is an image d'Epinal, an illustrated "life history of a libertine:'
This image has contributed greatly to Baudelaire's reputation-little though its purveyors may have numbered aIUong his friends. Over this image another imposes itself, one that has had a less widespread but more lasting effect: it shows Baudelaire as exemplar of an aesthetic Passion. [J62,2] The aesthete in Kierkegaard is predestined to the Passion. See "TI,e Unhappiest Man" in Either/G: [J62,3] The grave as the secret chamber in which Eros and Sexus settle their ancient quarrel. [J62,4] The stars in Baudelaire represent a picture puzzle (Ikxierbild> of the commodity. They are the everSaIUe in great masses. [J62,5] Baudelaire did not have the humanitarian idealism of a Victor Hugo or a La martine. The emotional buoyancy of a Musset was not at his disposal. He did not, like Gautier, take pleasure in his times, nor could he deceive hinlself about them like Leconte de Lisle. It was not given hinl to find a refuge in devotions, like Verlaine, nor to heighten the youtluul vigor of his lyric elan through the betrayal of his adulthood, like Rimbaud. As rich as Baudelaire is in knowledge of his craft, he is relatively unprovided with stratagems to face the times. And even tl,e grand tragic part he had composed for the arena of his day-the role of the "modern" -could be filled in the end only by himself. All this Baudelaire no doubt recognized. The eccentricities in which he took such pleasure were those of the mime who has to perform before a public incapable of following the action on the stage-a mime, furthermore, who knows this about his audience and, in his performance, allows tl,at knowledge its rightful due. [J62,6] In the psychic economy, the mass-produced aTtide appears as obsessional idea. [It answers to no natural need.] The neurotic is compelled to cl1armel it violently aIUong the ideas within the natural circulation process. [J62a,l] TI1e idea of eternal recurrence transfonns the historical event itself into a massproduced article. But this conception also displays, in another respect-on its obverse side, one could say-a trace of the economic circumstances to which it owes its sudden topicality. This was manifest at the moment the security of the conditions oflife was considerably diminished through an accelerated succession of crises. The idea of etenJa.i recurrence derived its luster from the fact that it was no longer possible, in all circumstances, to expect a recurrence of conditions across any interval of time shorter than that provided by eternity. The quotidian constellations very gradually began to be less quotidian. Very gradually their recurrence became a little less frequent, and there could arise, in consequence, the obscure presentiment that henceforth one I11USt rest content with cosmic constellations. Habit, in short, made ready to surrender some of its prerogatives. Nietzsche says, "I love short-lived habits;'''''l and Baudelaire already, tlu'oughout
- Page 303 and 304: nard." Edmond J aloux, Le Centenair
- Page 305 and 306: past, to think of things which are
- Page 307 and 308: In the Dernieres Lettres (p. 145),
- Page 309 and 310: In his commemorative address, Banvi
- Page 311 and 312: suddenly reopened it under the lamp
- Page 313 and 314: Note the rigor and elegance of the
- Page 315 and 316: o o eo The importance of theory for
- Page 317 and 318: Underneath that dark and fatal claw
- Page 319 and 320: only if one took out a subscription
- Page 321 and 322: ""Baudelaire does not give us a lif
- Page 323 and 324: 00 o '" ""He was the first . .. to
- Page 325 and 326: women give suck . .. , in their psy
- Page 327 and 328: more deplorable than to be utterly
- Page 329 and 330: and back." Ch. B., Oeuvres complete
- Page 331 and 332: "Stupidity is often the ornament of
- Page 333 and 334: The figure of the lesbian woman bel
- Page 335 and 336: Sainte-Beuve with the words : "They
- Page 337 and 338: v . 1 .. The unique importance of B
- Page 339 and 340: .§ ) ... The mental capacities tha
- Page 341 and 342: The image of petrified unrest, iu t
- Page 343 and 344: On allegory: "L'Amour et Ie crane:
- Page 345 and 346: the public . .. the mechanism behin
- Page 347 and 348: to mention the transfiguration of P
- Page 349 and 350: work of Poe, who thus became irrepl
- Page 351 and 352: Les Fleun du mal may be considered
- Page 353: forms an obstacle in its path. His
- Page 357 and 358: p. 133 ("Equilibrium between the Ae
- Page 359 and 360: judging solely by the lights of a r
- Page 361 and 362: his nonconformity, was in this resp
- Page 363 and 364: The experience of allegory, which h
- Page 365 and 366: o en M haschisch;' Oeuvres, vol. 1,
- Page 367 and 368: no words could convey to the merely
- Page 369 and 370: "On solemn eves of Heavenly harvest
- Page 371 and 372: without jealousy, sympathetic and r
- Page 373 and 374: tionary communists-from the public
- Page 375 and 376: Closing lines of "Le Vin des chiffo
- Page 377 and 378: a thousand splendors, / Is a sumptu
- Page 379 and 380: For the materialist dialectician, d
- Page 381 and 382: understanding its Baroque form. He
- Page 383 and 384: I.I.While the parliamentary party o
- Page 385 and 386: deed of nihilism, which is suicide"
- Page 387 and 388: Modernity, in this work, is what a
- Page 389 and 390: v . ] .. Allegory, as the sign that
- Page 391 and 392: Among the legends which circulated
- Page 393 and 394: No more hees sipping dewdrop and th
- Page 395 and 396: o CO CD "BauclelaiI'c's weighty phr
- Page 397 and 398: existence, to an attitude of patien
- Page 399 and 400: first, vegetable kingdom next, mine
- Page 401 and 402: America. Near the Capitol the roofs
- Page 403 and 404: K [Dream City and Dream House, Drea
This image has contributed greatly to Baudelaire's reputation-little though its<br />
purveyors may have numbered aIUong his friends. Over this image another<br />
imposes itself, one that has had a less widespread but more lasting effect: it shows<br />
Baudelaire as exemplar of an aesthetic Passion. [J62,2]<br />
<strong>The</strong> aesthete in Kierkegaard is predestined to the Passion. See "TI,e Unhappiest<br />
Man" in Either/G: [J62,3]<br />
<strong>The</strong> grave as the secret chamber in which Eros and Sexus settle their ancient<br />
quarrel. [J62,4]<br />
<strong>The</strong> stars in Baudelaire represent a picture puzzle (Ikxierbild> of the commodity.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y are the everSaIUe in great masses. [J62,5]<br />
Baudelaire did not have the humanitarian idealism of a Victor Hugo or a La<br />
martine. <strong>The</strong> emotional buoyancy of a Musset was not at his disposal. He did<br />
not, like Gautier, take pleasure in his times, nor could he deceive hinlself about<br />
them like Leconte de Lisle. It was not given hinl to find a refuge in devotions, like<br />
Verlaine, nor to heighten the youtluul vigor of his lyric elan through the betrayal<br />
of his adulthood, like Rimbaud. As rich as Baudelaire is in knowledge of his craft,<br />
he is relatively unprovided with stratagems to face the times. And even tl,e grand<br />
tragic part he had composed for the arena of his day-the role of the "modern"<br />
-could be filled in the end only by himself. All this Baudelaire no doubt<br />
recognized. <strong>The</strong> eccentricities in which he took such pleasure were those of the<br />
mime who has to perform before a public incapable of following the action on the<br />
stage-a mime, furthermore, who knows this about his audience and, in his<br />
performance, allows tl,at knowledge its rightful due. [J62,6]<br />
In the psychic economy, the mass-produced aTtide appears as obsessional idea. [It<br />
answers to no natural need.] <strong>The</strong> neurotic is compelled to cl1armel it violently<br />
aIUong the ideas within the natural circulation process. [J62a,l]<br />
TI1e idea of eternal recurrence transfonns the historical event itself into a massproduced<br />
article. But this conception also displays, in another respect-on its<br />
obverse side, one could say-a trace of the economic circumstances to which it<br />
owes its sudden topicality. This was manifest at the moment the security of the<br />
conditions oflife was considerably diminished through an accelerated succession<br />
of crises. <strong>The</strong> idea of etenJa.i recurrence derived its luster from the fact that it was<br />
no longer possible, in all circumstances, to expect a recurrence of conditions<br />
across any interval of time shorter than that provided by eternity. <strong>The</strong> quotidian<br />
constellations very gradually began to be less quotidian. Very gradually their<br />
recurrence became a little less frequent, and there could arise, in consequence,<br />
the obscure presentiment that henceforth one I11USt rest content with cosmic<br />
constellations. Habit, in short, made ready to surrender some of its prerogatives.<br />
Nietzsche says, "I love short-lived habits;'''''l and Baudelaire already, tlu'oughout
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