Photograph of Charles Baudelaire, ca. 1863
By: Étienne Carjat (French, 1828–1906)
The photographer captured the evil emanating from Baudelaire's face.
[More information on the photograph here]
I asked Tiberge, of Galliwatch, to comment on my comments on Baudelaire's essay Journaux intimes. Fusées. Mon coeur mis à nu, and she graciously sent me this:
http://www.necessaryprose.com/I can understand how melancholy can drive us into its world. It is an introverted, and in many ways a quiet, state of mind. But, I think it is also a dangerous place. I think it attracts variations of Satan (whether through sad thoughts, introverted ways, and a distancing from the outer world).
The web page above has some ideas and quotations that you may find of interest. Scroll down to Baudelaire: Journaux intimes and click for an English version of the passage on beauty. You can compare it with your own. I like your comments very much but I am also attracted to the idea of something melancholy in beauty. Not beauty that is devoid of spirituality, but not too happy either. I feel happiness is transitory, while melancholy is symbolic of something deeper and more enduring. Melancholy is the loss of happiness, and I feel that a person, man or woman, but especially a woman, is more beautiful if she has suffered loss. I know this sounds perhaps strange and Lawrence Auster once told me he did not agree with that. He did not think that suffering was necessary to really be a "better" person. I don't mean to say that person should endure any kind of torture, but I do feel that loss, self-doubt, and resignation to one's fate (the fate which we inherit at birth, which is not fixed immutably, but which can be molded within strict limitations) help a person appreciate life more. Am I too pessimistic? I don't think so. There have been very few truly happy moments in my life, and I was wary of every one of them because I knew they were transitory. I am much happier without happiness, and without the idea of personal happiness. But I have achieved a kind of "wisdom" that gives me satisfactions and comfort.
I do not mean to deny happiness to others. For example, the rather plain Kate Middleton looked gloriously happy in a recent photo of her with William and the baby. She has blossomed so noticeably. That's wonderful. I do not begrudge anyone happiness. I'm talking more about myself and my own nature which has never been "happy", but which has been very adaptable and very curious.
The page on Baudelaire also has a most fascinating quotation from André Gide at the bottom. I would love to have the time to write about Gide's notion that the devil does NOT want us to believe in him. Here is much food for thought: it is necessary to believe in Satan in order to avoid him. You may be able to build an interesting post on this idea. I don't have the inclination right now.
While you are at that web page click also the article on Flaubert. The translation of Flaubert's erotic passages is of great interest to those, like myself, who have learned that a great writer, a great artist, is not necessarily a likable person. Read about how Flaubert loved prostitutes and could not keep away from them.
Bonne lecture.
I don't think happiness necessarily means mindless cheerfulness, although I do know people like that, and they are irritating, albeit in a harmless way. But I think Beauty takes on a mature happiness, a joyful engagement in the world around us, a desire to live in it, to improve on it, to share it, and to exalt in it. It is what God gave us, after all, albeit having sent us out of paradise. Our earth is not a "lost paradise" but in a distorted paradise, where we can see bits of the real thing around us. For some, this drives us to find those "real" moments, and interject them into our world. For others, it might make them sad, and melancholic. And those are the ones where Satan's lures can easily enter, where he pits us against God, telling us that we have been rejected by Him, and that he (Satan) can now deliver us from those travails.
I am glad that Larry Auster had similar views as I do (Tiberge mentions his disagreement with her view on melancholy and beauty above). It is hard to do much without the yolk of something better. And I think beauty is that quest for perfection, and it gives us support.
Below is Baudelaire's sinister inversion.
Glory and praise to thee, Satan, in the most high,
Where thou didst reign; and in deep hell's obscurity,
Where, manacled, thou broodest long! O silent power,
Grant that my soul be near to thee in thy great hour,
When, like a living Temple, victorious bough on bough,
Shall rise the Tree of Knowledge, whose roots are in thy brow!
All glory be to Thee, Most High,
To Thee all adoration;
In grace and truth Thou drawest nigh
To offer us salvation;
Thou showest Thy good will to men,
And peace shall reign on earth again;
We praise Thy Name forever.
We praise, we worship Thee, we trust
And give Thee thanks forever,
O Father, for Thy rule is just
And wise, and changes never;
Thy hand almighty o’er us reigns,
Thou doest what Thy will ordains;
’Tis well for us Thou rulest.
O Jesus Christ, our God and Lord,
Son of the Heavn’ly Father,
O Thou Who hast our peace restored,
The straying sheep dost gather,
Thou Lamb of God, to Thee on high
Out of depths we sinners cry:
Have mercy on us, Jesus!
O Holy Spirit, precious gift,
Thou Comforter unfailing,
From Satan’s snares our souls uplift,
And let Thy power, availing,
Avert our woes and calm our dread.
For us the Savior’s blood was shed;
We trust in Thee to save us.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat