The Arcades Project - Operi

existence, to an attitude of patience with the gloom and fetters . And his whole life
was spent in this state of mind. He became, in time, a wan and emaciated old man.
But he will never be conquered. He cannot be conquered." Jean Cassou, Qu,urante-/mit
(Pari,), p. 24. [J89,1]
Concerning Hugo, but also Baudelaire's "Les Petites Vieilles" (neither men­
tioned here by Cassou) : "For such, iodeed, is the novelty of the Romantic cen­
tury: it is the scandalous presence of the satyr at the table of the gods, the public
manifestation of beings without name, beiogs without any possibility of existence-slaves,
Negroes, monsters, the spider, the nettle." Jean Cassou, Qyarantehuit
(Paris), p. 2Z (One trunks here of Marx's description of child labor in
England.)4B; [J89,2]
It would perhaps not be iropossible to find io Baudelaire's poem "Paysage " an
echo of ' 48 and of the mysticism of work characteristic of that time. And it might
not be ioappropriate to thiok, io this connection, of the formula coioed by Cas­
sou with reference to Jean Reynaud's Terre et ciel: "The Workshop expands all
the way to the stars and invades eternity:' Jean Cassou, 0Jarante-huit (Paris),
p. 4Z [J89,3]
Fregier, Des Classes dangereuses de la population dans les grandes villes (Paris, 184.0), vol. 2, p. 347: 'The wages of the
ragpicker, like those of the worker, are inseparable from the prosperity of industry.
The latter has, like nature itseJi, the sublime privilege of breeding with its own
debris. This privilege is the more precious for humanity as it propagates life within
the lower levels of society, while making the intermediate and highest levels the
ornament of wealth." Cited in Casson, Quarante-huit, p. 73. [J89,4]
"For Dante is the constant model of these men of '48. They are imbued with his
language and his tales, and, like him, are committed to proscription; they are
hearers of a vagabond homeland, charged with prophetic tidings, accompanied by
shadows and voices." Jean Cassou, Quarante-huit (Paris), p. Ill. [J89a,1]
Cassou, describing Daumier's models: "the hunched silhouettes of men in long
shabby frock coats who are looking at engravings , and all those Baudelairean
characters, descendants of Jean-Jacques' solitary walker." Jean Cassou, Quarante-huit
(Paris), p. 149. [J89a,2]
Regarding a connection that may be felt between Baudelaire's "generosity of
heart" and rus sadism, one should refer to Proust's portrait of Mlle. Vm teuil
(which, by the way, was probably conceived as a self-portrait) : '''Sadists' of Mlle.
Vinteuil's sort are creatures so purely sentimental, so virtuous by nature, that
even sensual pleasure appears to them as somethiog bad, a privilege reserved for
the wicked. And when they allow themselves for a moment to enjoy it, they
endeavor to iropersonate, to assume all the outward appearance of wicked peo-