BAUDELAIRE AND POE

Author(s): JONATHAN CULLER

Source: Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur, Bd. 100, SPRACHWISSENSCHAFT ·
LITERATURWISSENSCHAFT · SEMIOTIK. Wechselwirkungen in Theorie und Praxis (1990), pp. 61-
73
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 BAUDELAIRE AND POE

ByJONATHANCULLER

Therelationship between thewritings ofEdgarAllanPoe andCharlesBaudelaireis

a tantalizingproblemforliterary history, literary criticism and, hence,forliterary
theory.Nowhereelseinworldliterature, so faras I know,hasa writer beenso scorned
bytheliterati of his own languageand so celebrated by thebestmindsof another
cultureand language.In France,themosttalented poetshavepraisedPoe as a genius
ofthefirstorder,althoughBaudelaire'spoètemauditand masterof theshortstory,
Mallarmé'ssublimepoet,and Valéry'slucidtheoretician of poeticeffects are not
exactlythesamefigure. Englishand American on theotherhand,haveoften
critics,
deemedPoe,in LauraRiding'sphrase,"a gloomyandsentimental hack,"judginghim
a vulgar,
adolescent poetandtalented onlyas authorofpopularshortstories (Riding,
252). Americancriticswho in recentyearshaveturnedfavorableattention on his
storieshaveoftenbeeninspiredto approachthemby Frenchtheoretical discourses
thatbelongto a tradition inaugurated byPoe'searlierFrenchadmirers. Thisunparal-
leleddiscrepancy - I canthinkofno othercasewhereFrancophone and Anglophone
judgments of an Englishor American writer contrast so starkly- mightlead one to
suspectthatthereis someuncannyrelation betweenPoe's textsand Frenchreaders,
somedeepandunexplained senseoftherelevance ofhisworktotheirsituation, forthe
admiration,whilenotuniversal, extends farbeyondBaudelaire, Mallarmé, andValéry.
Verlainewrotetwo poemsentitled"Nevermore," and Rimbaudwrote"Les Cor-
beaux,"putting in the pluralthe French titleof Poe's "The Raven."A moreextreme
response,perhaps, but one which suggests that thepoetswerenotaloneintheir strange
to
receptivity Poe, their sense of his peculiarpertinence, is the nineteenth-century
Frenchpainter and engraver, CharlesMeyron, whoseworkBaudelairepraisedinthe
Salonde 1859.In a letter to Poulet-Malassis in 1860,Baudelairereports thatMeyron
m'ademandé sij'avaislulesnouvellesd'uncertain Edgar Poe.Jeluiai répondu quejeles
connaissaismieuxque personne, et pourcause.Il m'ademandé alors,d'untontrès
accentué,si je croyaisà la réalitéde cet Edgar Poe. Moi, je lui ai demandé naturellement
à qui il attribuaittoutesses nouvelles.Il m'a répondu: "A une sociétéde littérateurstrès
"
habiles,trèspuissantset au courantde tout. (1966, 1,655)
He suspected this,he explainedto Baudelaire,becausethesestorieswereabouthim.
Forinstance: " 'La RueMORGUE.J'aifaitundessinde la Morgue.Un Orang-outang.
On m'asouvent comparéà unsinge.Ce singeassassinedeuxfemmes, la mèreetsafille.
Et moiaussi,j'ai assassinémoralement deuxfemmes, la mèreetsa fille.J'aitoujours
prisle romanpouruneallusionà mesmalheurs'" (655).MeyronaskedBaudelairefor
a favor:"Vousmeferiez bienplaisirsi vouspouviezmeretrouverla dateoù EdgarPoe
(en supposant qu'il n'aitétéaidé parpersonne) composé conte,pourvoirsi cette
a ce
datecoïncideavecmesaventures" (655).

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62 Culler
Jonathan

Althoughthis reading of Poe is certainlystrange,it ought not to be altogether

unexpected,since thetales themselvesfrequently concernrelationsof thissort,where
supposedly independentand externalphenomena seem strangelyto address and
implicatethosewho encounterthem- as thehorsein thetapestryin Poe's "Metzenger-
stein"notonlyturnsto glareat the Baron but destroyshim.Poe's mostfamouspoem,
"The Raven," itselfis preciselythe storyof a cultivatedyoung man who gradually
comes to believethatthecroakingof a ravenis "une allusionà mes malheurs,"speaks
to him of his own adventures,and specificallyof his lost love. Afterseveral"Never-
mores"thenarratoris startled
byreplyso aptlyspoken,
"Doubtless," saidI, "whatituttersis itsonlystockandstore
Caughtfromsomeunhappy master whomunmerciful Disaster
Followedfastandfollowed fastertillhissongsoneburdenbore."(Poe,1984b,84)
But as the"Nevermore"is repeated
I betookmyself tolinking
Fancyuntofancy, thinking whatthisominousbirdofyore-
Whatthisgrim,ungainly, ghastly,gaunt,andominousbirdofyore
Meantincroaking "Nevermore." (Poe,1984b,84)
And finallyhe construesthebirdas all-knowingemissary- "'Prophet!' said I" - and
begins askingit questions- "/s therebalm in Gilead?" Will "thissoul withsorrow
laden . . . , withinthe distantAidenn, . . . clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels
name Lenore"? - and he receivesthedevastatinganswer.
Poe's tales also frequently presentcircumstances in whichan apparentlyindepend-
ent creatureor person proves to have an uncannyrelationto the protagonist:in
"William Wilson" the narratorslays an acquaintancewho dogs him,only to be told
that "henceforward artthoualso dead ... In medidstthouexist- and, in mydeath,see
by this image, whichis thineown, how utterlythou hast murderedthyself (1984b,
356-7). Or again,in "Metzengerstein" theBaronis spellboundbythefigureof a horse
in a tapestrywhichrepresents themurderby a Metzengerstein of thehorse'sowner,an
ancestorof the Baron's mortalrivals,the Berlifitzings. The horse,he discovers,has
altereditspositionand is staringstraight at the Baron: "theeyes,beforeinvisible,now
worean energeticand humanexpression,whiletheygleamedwitha fieryand unusual
red" (1984b, 137).As the Baron,"stupefiedwithterror,"flingsopen thedoor, "a flash
of red light,streamingfar into the chamber,flunghis shadow witha clear outline
against the quiveringtapestry;and he shudderedto perceivethat shadow - as he
staggeredawhileupon thethreshold- assumingtheexactposition,and preciselyfilling
up thecontour,of the relentlessand triumphant murdererof the Saracen Berlifitzing"
(1984b, 137). The representation in the tapestryprovesto have a decisivebearingon his
life,as a mysterious, diabolical horse bears himto his death.
The effectof "The Raven," of such storiesas "Metzengerstein", and otherswhere
women or cats uncannilyresemblethose who are thoughtto be dead, should be to
produce preciselysuch readerlysuspicions about uncanny resemblancesbetween
representations and one's own situation.When Baudelairereportsthatthefirsttimehe
opened a book by Poe, "j'ai vu, avec épouvanteet ravissement, non seulementdes
sujetsrêvéspar moi, mais des PHRASES penséespar moi,et écritespar lui vingtans

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 Baudelaire
andPoe 63

auparavant"(1966, II, 386), he articulatesan experienceof the uncanninessof repeti-

tionthatappears so oftenin Poe's stories,as whenthenarratorof "Morella" hearshis
daughteruse the sentencesof the dead mother:"above all - oh, above all - in the
phrasesand expressionsof the dead on the lips of the loved and the living,I found
food forconsumingthoughtand horror"(1984b, 238). Or in "William Wilson",the
narratorhearsin thespeech of his double "theveryechoofmyown" although,he says,
"theimitation, apparently,was noticedbymyselfalone" (1984b, 344-5). Or thereis "A
Tale of the Ragged Mountains",pertinent because of theway eventsthatoccurredon
one continentare uncannilyproducedon anotherfifty yearslaterthroughthemedium
of writing:as Templetonin 1827is writingan accountof his adventureswitha certain
Oldeb in Benaresin 1780,Dr. Bedloe is experiencingthesame eventsin themountains
of West Virginia.The historicalmemoirsproveto be an exact account of the bizarre
adventuresin whichBedloe findshimselfcaughtup.
The sense of findingoneselfin a figureor representation thatin principleis quite
foreign is what much of Poe's writing is about. This contributesto what Jefferson
Humphries calls, in to
seeking explain Poe's French fortunes,his "enactingof the
essentialtranslatednessand nonintegrity of textuality" (Humphries,5). That is, Poe's
fatesuggeststhatliterature, in a sense,is alwaysin translation, movingfromtextto text
in a processof repetitionand deferment. Long before the Civil War,beforeany actual
loss, Poe incarnatesthe attractionof the AmericanSouth to the Frenchas "a site of
loss, defeat,bereavement"(26) by usingthe means of lifeto createthe effectof death
(35) - an effectto whichprogressiveAmericanswould remaincold. Butthistranslation
seems moreplausible forMallarméand ValérythanforBaudelaire,who findsperver-
sityratherthan radical negativityin Poe, and whose image of the AmericanSouth
involvesnone of the metaphysicsof defeatthatpost-CivilWar generationswould see
there.
T. S. Eliot,lookingat theattractionto Poe bythethreegreatrepresentatives of what
he sees as the most interesting modernpoetic tradition- Baudelaire,Mallarmé,and
Valéry- open-mindedlyadvises "we should be preparedto entertainthe possibility
thattheseFrenchmenhave seen somethingin Poe thatEnglish-speaking readershave
missed" (Eliot, 28). He identifiesthis somethingas two centralideas of a poetic
traditionin which increasingconsciousnessof language has as its theoreticalgoal la
poésiepure: (1) thata poem should have nothingin view but itself,so thatthe poetic
subjectis above all a device permitting the poem to come intobeing,and (2) thatthe
poet should strive forself-consciousness about thepoeticproductionand poeticeffects
(39-40). This account does some justice Mallarmé'sand Valéry'sreadingsof Poe. In
to
speaking of Poe as "mygreat master" and "one ofthemostmarvelousmindstheworld
has ever known,"or "le cas littéraireabsolu," Mallarmé focused on a poet whose
conceptionof poetryas musicalplay ofthesignifier was linkedwitha radicaltheoryof
the universe(Mallarmé,531). Valéryadmiredabove all else the theoreticianof poetic
effects, and indeed his responseis principallywhatFrencheyespermitEliotto see: the
influenceof Poe in "the developmentand descent of one particulartheoryof the
natureof poetry"- whichis primarily Valéry'sconceptionof Poe. Eliot's accountthus
leaves the originaland determining responseto Poe as mysteriousas ever,forBaude-

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64 Culler
Jonathan

lairecame firstto thetalesand onlylaterto thepoems and poetictheory.He is scarcely

infatuatedwith"The Philosophyof Composition,"althoughhe appreciatesits"légère
impertinence"and thinks"un peu de charlatanerieest toujours permis au génie"
(Baudelaire,1975,II, 335, 344).
It is on Baudelaire'sencounterwithPoe thatI proposeto focus.The significanceof
this encounteris one of the more puzzling problemsin literaryhistory- puzzling
because unlikealmost everyotherinteresting problemin literaryhistory,it seems as
it
though ought to be quite manageable. There seems no good way of decidingwhat
romanticismmeans or oughtto mean, or of workingout what caused the rise of the
novel,or even distinguishing in a principledway betweenmodernismand post-mod-
ernism,butin thecase of Baudelaire'sencounterwithPoe, we have two circumscribed
bodies of writing,Poe's and Baudelaire's, and abundant statementsby Baudelaire
about whathe saw in Poe. Yet it provesextremely difficult
to calculatethenatureand
forceof thisencounter.
The questionis how did Poe influenceBaudelaire,and whatdid Baudelaire see in
him,how did he read Poe? When one surveysthe literature on thissubject,one finds
ratherstriking -
disagreements striking in thatneitherof these questionsseems to be
one wheredifferent theoreticalorientations would necessarilygeneratevastlydiffering
conclusions,and thus one would expect a rathergreatermeasureof agreementthan
one actuallyfinds.On the characterof Baudelaire'sreadingof Poe, forexample,the
claimsrunfromArthurPatterson'sin L'Influencede Edgar Poe sur CharlesBaudelaire
that"Personnene s'estjamais plus profondément pénétrédes œuvresd'un auteurque
Baudelaire de celles de Poe" (Patterson,8) to P. M. Wetherill'sconclusionin Charles
Baudelaire et la poésie d'Edgar Allan Poe: "II serait difficilede trouverun autre
exempled'un hommesi cultivé,d'un critiquesi pénétrant,poète lui-même,admirant
avec tantd'enthousiasmeun si médiocrepoète" (Wetherill,197). Marcel Ruff,on the
otherhand, maintainsthatalthoughBaudelaire was profoundlymoved by the man,
whose unfortunate fatestruckhimas resemblinghis own,he expressednumerousand
serious reservationsabout the particularwritingssupposed to have influencedhim
(Ruff,67-75). The viewthatPoe decisivelyinfluencedBaudelaireis eloquentlystated
by Paul Valéryin his fineessay,"Situationde Baudelaire": Baudelaire's naturalgifts
"n'eussentfaitde lui qu'un émule de Gautier,sans doute,ou un excellentartistedu
Parnasse,s'il n'eût,par la curiositéde son esprit,méritéla chance de découvrirdans les
ouvragesd'Edgar Poe un nouveau mondeintellectuel Son talenten esttransformé,
sa destinéeen est magnifiquement changée" (Valéry,I, 599). However,Lloyd Austin,
in his Universpoétiquede Baudelaire,concludesthat"L'influencede Poe sur Baude-
lairea toutefoisété moinsgrandequ'on ne l'a souventdit" (Austin,9).
The firstaspectofthisencounteris Baudelaire'sattraction to Poe as an exampleof le
poète maudit. It is clearlyimportant to Baudelaire thatPoe not only a
is a foreigner,
stranger to Francebuta stranger in his own country:"Les couleurs,la tournured'esprit
d'Edgar Poe tranchentviolemmentsur le fond de la littérature américaine"(Baude-
laire,1975,II, 253). Poe is "le Byronégarédans un mauvaismonde" (322) about whom
Baudelaire'simaginationconstructs scenariosthatmighthave figuredin Les Fleursdu
Mal: "les Etats-Unisne furentpour Poe qu'une vasteprison qu'il parcouraitavec

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 Baudelaire
andPoe 65

fiévreuse
l'agitation d'unêtrefaitpourrespirer dansunmondeplusamoral. . ." (1975,
II, 297,myitalics).At themomentwhenBaudelairediscoveredPoe, he had been
championing EugèneDelacroixas thetrueromantic, vastlysuperior to VictorHugo.
The Salonde 1846arguesthatpeoplehavecomparedDelacroixto Hugo,butthatthis
comparison is unfairto Delacroix,forDelacroixis essentially thetrueroman-
creative,
ticartist,
whileHugo "estun ouvrier beaucoupplusadroitqu'inventif, un travailleur
bienpluscorrect que créateur"(1975,II, 431).In seekingto eliminate Hugofromthe
scene,he celebratesDelacroix'spaintings as "des poèmes,et de grandspoèmes
naïvement conçus,exécutésavec l'insolenceaccoutumée du génie"and whichopen
"de profondes avenuesà l'imagination la plusvoyageuse"(431).He thusmovesto
concludethatwhereasHugois merely a painter, "un peintre en poésie",Delacroixis
thetrueromantic poet,"unpoèteen peinture" (1975,II, 432).
Although Baudelairecontinues to championDelacroix,thediscovery of Poe ena-
bled himto createanotherfigure who actually wrote and
literature whom he could
attempt toset in the of
place Hugo. Like Delacroix, "qui a élevéson artà la hauteurde
la grandepoésie,EdgarPoe aimeà agiter sesfigures surdesfondsviolâtres etverdâtres
où se révèlent la phosphorescence de la pourriture et la senteurde l'orage"(1975,II,
317-8). He wrote to "II
Sainte-Beuve, faut, c'est-à-direje désirequ'EdgarPoe, qui
n'estpas grand-chose en Amérique, devienne ungrandhommepourla France"(1966,
1,343).ButwhileBaudelaire's invention ofPoe is partofan attempt to displaceHugo
and leave a place forhis own poetry, to createa greatman who wouldresemble
Baudelairebutin proserather thanpoetry, thistellsus littleabouthisinfluence or
Baudelaire's reading.
Thereare aspectsof Baudelaire'spoetry thatwerepossiblyinfluenced by Poe. In
additionto echoingphrasesfromPoe's verseand shortstoriesfromtimeto time,
Baudelaire makesheavyuseofalliteration - moreprominent inPoethanithadbeenin
prior French poetry - and his use of internal rhyme and refrainmaybe linkedwith
Poe'spoeticpractice; butmuchofhisversewaswritten beforehe discovered Poe,and
itis mycontention thatthemostpotentinfluence lieselsewhere.
Poe gaveBaudelaire theideaforoneproject whichhepursued, MonCœurmisà nu.
Poe writes,
Ifanyambitious manhavea fancy torevolutionize, atoneeffort,theuniversalworld of
human thought,human opinion,and human sentiment,theopportunity is his own - the
road to immortalrenownlies straight, open, and unencumberedbeforehim. All thathe
has to do is to writeand publisha verylittlebook. Its titleshould be simple- a fewplain
words- "My Heart Laid Bare." But- thislittlebook mustbe trueto itstitle.(1984a, 1423)
He concludes,however, in wordsthatBaudelairemusthavetakenas a directchal-
lenge,"No mandarewriteit.No maneverwilldarewriteit.No mancouldwriteit,
evenifhe dared.The paperwouldshrivel and blaze at everytouchofthefierypen"
(1423).Baudelairetried
to do extreme
so, cultivating thoughts - misogynistic,
misan-
thropic,even anti-semitic- in the hope of producingthisbook, but the project
remained unfinished.
WherePoe influenced Baudelairemostdeeply,in myview,whereBaudelaire
proved an astute
and powerful readerofPoe,is in Baudelaire'sPetits
poèmesenprose.
Poe provided himwithan aesthetics ofcompression,and hisexampleconvinced him

Ztschr.
f.frz.Spracheu. Literatur
C, 1990 5

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66 Culler
Jonathan

to abandon the projectof writingshortstories- he would not expectto outdo Poe in

his chosen genre - but the example of prose writingsexploringthe mysterious, the
uncanny,theexceptionsof humanlife,was important, I suggest,in leading Baudelaire
to undertakethe prose poems. Poe's writing, he notes,"supprimeles accessoires,""le
sujet se découpe ardemmentsur ces fonds nus" (1975, II, 282). The styleis "serré,
concatené."(283). This effectwas whathe undertookto producein the Petitspoèmesen
prose.One thingthathelped make Poe's writing a possiblemodel forprose poetrywas
the factthat in his readingand translationof Poe Baudelaire seems to have been
insensitiveto thearchaismof Poe's language- althoughin hisverseBaudelairedid not
hesitateto use a slightlyarchaictermor construction, especiallyin juxtapositionwith
somethingsardonicor low. His translationsboth of the few poems and especiallyof
the storiesput Poe into a vibrant,contemporaryFrench,while otherwiserespecting
syntaxand meaningas scrupulouslyas possible.
In "Notes Nouvelles sur Edgar Poe" Baudelaire wroteabout the advantages of
Poe's form:"l'auteur d'une nouvelle a à sa dispositionune multitudede tons, de
nuances de langage,le ton raisonneur,le sarcastique,l'humoristique,que répudie la
poésie,et qui sontcommedes dissonances,des outragesà l'idée de beauté pure"(1975,
II, 330). He describesthe Petitspoèmes en prose to his motheras seekingto join
"l'effrayantavec le bouffon"(1966, II, 473). Baudelaire writesin his présentationof
Poe's "Berenice","ce qui ferason éterneléloge,c'estla préoccupationde tousles sujets
réellementimportants, et seuls dignes de l'attentiond'un homme spirituel:probabili-
tés,maladiesde l'esprit,sciencesconjecturales,espéranceset calculs surla vie ultérieu-
re,analyse des excentriqueset des parias de la vie sublunaire,bouffonneries directe-
mentsymboliques"(1975, II, 289). This readingis the point of departure,or at least
pointof referenceforthe Petitspoèmes en prose,whichdo mostof thesethings,while
generallyleavingaside the sciencesconjecturales- a side of Poe Baudelaire admired
but forwhichhe was scarcelygifted- and focusinginsteadon "des parias de la vie
sublunaire"and "bouffonneriesdirectementsymboliques",not to say "maladies de
l'esprit."
A storythatsufficiently caughtBaudelaire'sattentionforhimto make it one of the
eight he summarizes in his firstarticleon Poe, "The Man of the Crowd", is one he
praises again in "Le Peintre de la vie moderne"when discussingConstantinGuys:
"Vous souvenez-vous d'un tableau (...) écritpar la plus puissanteplume de cette
époque, et qui a pour titreL'Homme desfoulesT (1975,II, 689). The readingof it he
offershere singlesout the way in which the narrator,watchingthe passing crowds
througha café window, "se mêle, par la pensée, à toutes les pensées qui s'agitent
autourde lui. Revenu récemmentdes ombresde la mort,il aspireavec délicestous les
germesettousles effluvesde la vie ... Finalement,il se précipiteà traverscettefouleà
la recherched'un inconnudontla physionomieentrevuel'a, en un clin d'œil,fasciné.
La curiositéest devenueune passion fatale,irrésistible"(1975,II, 690).
Whatis striking hereis theway in whichthisdescriptiontransforms Poe's storyinto
somethingresemblingBaudelaire's prose poem, "Les Foules", which focuseson the
poet's "incomparableprivilège"to enter"dans le personnagede chacun" : "le prome-
neursolitaireet pensiftireune singulièreivressede cetteuniversellecommunion.""Ce

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 BaudelaireandPoe 67

que les hommesnommentamourestbien petit,bien restreint et bien faible,comparéà

cetteineffableorgie,à cettesainte prostitution de l'âme qui se donne tout entière,
poésie et charité,à l'imprévuqui se montre,à l'inconnuqui passe" (1975,1,291).
Poe's story(1984b, 388-96) is organizedaround a contrastbetweena firstmoment,
whenthenarratorinsidethecafé displayshis analytic,classificatory powers,tellingus
how to recognizethe varioustypeswho pass by and confidently reading"in thatbrief
intervalof a glance,the historyof long years"(392), and a second momentwhen he
followsa man of undecipherablecountenancewho continuesto puzzle him ("'How
wild a history,'I said to myself,4iswrittenwithinthatbosom!'" (392)). Eventuallyhe
concludes thatthis"man of the crowd" who refusesto be alone is "the typeand the
geniusof deep crime"(396) and thatit is one of God's greatmerciesthatso wickeda
heart"lasstsichnichtlesen" (396). Althoughin "Les Fenêtres"Baudelairetakesup this
trope of reading countenances,he transforms both the situation,placing the poet
outsidelookingin, and theemphasis, which is not on thesuccess or failureof reading
the historybut,withmorethan a touch of irony,on the narrator'sself-satisfaction at
constructing
(...) l'histoirede cettefemme, ou plutôtsa légende,et quelquefois je me la raconteà
moi-même en pleurant.
Si c'eûtétéun pauvrevieuxhomme, j'auraisrefaitla siennetoutaussiaisément.
Etje mecouche,fierd'avoirvécusouffert dansd'autresque moi-même.
(1975,1,339)
In "Les Foules", however,Baudelaire's reading of Poe emphasizes the ivresseof
curiosityand participation,which is to be a centralimpulse of the Petitspoèmes en
prose.Even his translation, whichin mostrespectsis scrupulouslyfaithful, at one point
inflectsthe tale towardthe "Multitude,solitude:termeségaux et convertiblespour le
poète actifet fécond"of theprose poem (1975,1,291) by translating Poe's phrase"the
very denseness of the company around" as "la multitude innombrable qui les entou-
rait"(Poe, 1965,96). Butthestrangest, confirming momentofthedirectionof Baudelai-
re's readingcomes in his summaryof the storyin his firstarticleon Poe. Whereasthe
summaryin "Le Peintrede la vie moderne"mentionstheman of thecrowdonlyas an
object of the narrator'scuriosity,the summaryin "Edgar Allan Poe, sa vie et ses
ouvrages"focusesexclusivelyon him,eliminating thenarratorentirely, butdespitethis
radicalchangeof focus,thepointforBaudelaireremainsexactlythe same: the ivresse
of immersionin the crowd. While the othersummarytells thatthe narrator"aspire
avec délices tous les germeset tous les effluvesde la vie" (1975,II, 690), hereit is the
man of the crowd who "se plonge sans cesse au sein de la foule; il nage avec délices
dans l'océan humain"(1975,II, 277) - a descriptionthatpointsus towardtheopening
of "Les Foules": "il n'estpas donné à chacun de prendreun bain de multitude"(1975,
1,291).WhatBaudelairepreservesin bothsummaries,althoughtheyfocuson different
charactersand different partsof thetale,is whathe makes centralto "Les Foules".
Anothertextin the Petitspoèmesen prose is a readingof anotheraspect of Poe, the
Gothic Poe of metempsychosis and uncannydoubles. "Laquelle est la vraie?",a story
oftwo Benedictas- theideal Benedictawhomthespeakerburiesand thebizarrefigure
who immediatelyappears to take her place, as a punishmentforthe narrator- is a
parodie compressionof two storiesBaudelaire placed nextto each otherin his first

5*

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68 JonathanCuller

volume of translations,Histoiresextraordinaires: "Morella" and "Ligeia", wherethe

anecdote of femininedoubling is played out in lugubriousdetail. "J'ai connu une
certaineBenedicta,"beginsBaudelaire,"qui remplissaitl'atmosphèred'idéal, et dont
les yeuxrépandaientle désirde la grandeur,de la beauté,de la gloireet de toutce qui
faitcroireà l'immortalité" (1975,1,342). Poe's two mysteriouswomen,withoutpasts,
are bothpassionatelyengagedwithquestionsofimmortality, and Ligeia's unparalleled
beauty,"the beauty of beings eitherabove or apart fromthe earth,"which fillsthe
atmospherewithideality,comes especiallyfromhereyes,whose extraordinary expres-
sion is "moreprofoundthanthewell of Democritus"(Poe, 1984b,264).
Baudelaire'snextparagraphsardonicallysummarizesan aspect of Poe he saw only
too clearly,as in the prefaceto Histoiresextraordinaires, where he speaks of "ses
femmes,touteslumineuseset malades, mourantde maux bizarres"(1975, II, 318): in
Poe, beautyexistsso as to die. The prosepoem continues,"Mais cettefillemiraculeuse
étaittropbelle pourvivrelongtemps; aussi est-ellemortequelques jours aprèsque j'eus
faitsa connaissance,et c'est moi-mêmequi l'ai enterrée. . ." (Baudelaire, 1975,1,342).
Partof Poe's art of intensity is indeed to move immediatelyfromthe descriptionof
these beautifuland mysteriouswomen to theirdeath (sick beauties neverrecover):
"Ligeia grewill. The wild eyes blazed witha too - too gloriouseffulgence;the pale
fingersbecame of thetransparent waxen hue ofthegrave,and theblue veinsupon the
loftyforeheadswelledand sankimpetuouslywiththetidesofthemostgentleemotion.
I saw thatshe mustdie" (1984b, 267).
In "Ligeia" the narratorthenmarriesRowena, whom he comes to loathe "witha
hatredbelongingmoreto demon thanto man" (1984b,272). He revelsin recollections
of his ideal Ligeia, as thoughhe could call her back, and in factas Rowena in turn
sickensand dies, withhorrorhe recognizes,in a luridconclusion,Ligeia struggling to
returnin Rowena's body. In "Morella",thedead woman reappearsin thedaughter"to
which in dyingshe had given birth":"And, hourly,grew darkerthese shadows of
similitude,and morefull,and moredefinite, and moreperplexing,and morehideously
terriblein theiraspect" (1984b, 237-8). This tale concludes,"But she died; and with
myown hands I bore herto thetomb; and I laughedwitha long and bitterlaugh as I
foundno tracesof the first, in the charnelwhereI laid the second - Morella" (1984b,
239). Baudelaire'sprose poem givesa comic rendition:
Et comme mes yeuxrestaientfichéssur le lieu où étaitenfouimon trésor[i. e. the
grave],je vis subitementune petitepersonnequi ressemblaitsingulièrement à la défunte,
et qui, piétinantsur la terrefraîcheavec une violence hystériqueet bizarre,disait en
éclatantde rire:"C'est moi, la vraie Benedicta!C'est moi, une fameusecanaille! Et pour
la punitionde ta folieet de ton aveuglement,tu m'aimerastelleque je suis!"
Mais moi, furieux,j'ai répondu:"Non! non! non!" Et pour mieux accentuermon
refus,j'ai frappési violemmentla terredu pied que ma jambe s'est enfoncéejusqu'au
genou dans la sépulturerécente,et que, comme un loup pris au piège,je resteattaché,
pour toujourspeut-être, à la fossede l'idéal. (1975,1,342)

This littleallegory,whichsuggests,perhaps,thatPoe's narratorshave trulyput their

footin it,thattheirway ofbeingattachedto theideal is likehavingtheirfootcaughtin
a coffin,also narratestherelationbetweenhighand low femininefiguresas a product
of "folie" and blindness,translatingPoe's gothicscenario into a more Baudelairian

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 BaudelaireandPoe 69

mode. But what I would stresshere and returnto lateris the way in whichthisprose
poem prosaicizesby literalizingfiguresand clichés,generatinga narrativeby taking
literallytheidea of being attached to one's ideal orfasteningone's eyes on something
(ficherles yeux sur quelque chose). Baudelaire's is a prosaicizingreading of Poe's
supernatural.He prefersthelucid Poe.
Indeed,whatBaudelairereads in Poe, one mightsay,is a triadof qualitiesthathe in
effectsets againstthe revolutionary credo of his century:Lucidité,Etrangeté,Perver-
sité.
(1) Lucidité.Afterdescribingthe Americanmilieuin its firstsection,Baudelaire's
"Notes nouvellessur Edgar Poe" beginsitssecond section,"Car il ne futjamais dupe"
(1975,II, 321). He saw throughtheprogressiveplatitudesof his century.This is the Poe
who, withDe Maistre,Baudelaire says taughthimto think.It is also the Poe empha-
sized by Valéryin his brilliant"Situationde Baudelaire". Baudelaire's talentswould
have made himbut a rivalof Gautierifhe had notdiscoveredin thewritingsof Poe a
new intellectualworld.
Le démonde la lucidité, le géniede l'analyse,et l'inventeurdes combinaisons les plus
neuveset les plusséduisantes de la logiqueavec l'imagination, avec le
de la mysticité
calcul,le psychologue de l'exception, l'ingénieur littéraire
qui approfondit et utilise
touteslesressources de l'art,luiapparaissent en EdgarPoeetl'émerveillent. Tantde vues
originaleset promesses extraordinaires l'ensorcellent.Son talenten esttransformé, sa
destinée en estmagnifiquement changée.(Valéry, I, 599)
The attraction forBaudelairelies above all in thecombinationof a romanticdiscourse
witha luciditypermitting a critiqueofthatdiscourse.
(2) Etrangeté.Baudelaire emphasizes that Poe's compositionsare "créées pour
nous démontrer que l'étrangetéest une des partiesintégrantes du beau" (1975,II, 302).
This is similarto the view he had alreadytakenin the Salon of 1846,emphasizingthe
need fornoveltyand originality, but Poe gave him somethingthatresembleda more
settleddoctrine,linkedto an account of the poetic facultyof imagination,and by his
practicePoe associated this etrangetéwiththe representation of the bizarre,of the
pariahsand exceptionsof humanlife.
(3) Perversité. Baudelairefoundit possibleto use Poe againstRousseau, as he used
himagainstHugo, in creatingan alternativegreatwriterwho sharedsome of his own
conceptionsand lefthim creativespace in which to work. In "Notes nouvelles sur
Edgar Poe", the last of his threeessays,whichreflectsa muchgreaterfamiliarity with
Poe's writings thando theothertwo,he insistson Poe's visionof thenaturalperversity
or depravityof man. "Mais voici plus importantque tout",he begins: "nous noterons
que cet auteur,produit d'un siècle infatuéde lui-même,enfantd'une nation plus
infatuéed'elle-mêmequ'aucune autre,a vu clairement, a imperturbablement affirmé la
méchanceténaturellede l'homme" (1975, II, 322). Baudelaire waxes eloquent about
theexplanatorypower of thisconcept,withoutwhicha hostof human actionscannot
be understood:"la Perversité naturelle,qui faitque l'hommeest sans cesse et à la fois
homicideet suicide,assassin et bourreau" (323). The relevanttext- perhapsthe text
which most inspiredBaudelaire - is "The Imp of the Perverse",which Baudelaire
placed at thebeginningof themajor collectionof his translationsof Poe, les Nouvelles
histoiresextraordinaires, and whichhe translatesas "Le Démon de la perversité." That

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70 Culler
Jonathan

impbecomes démon is alreadycharacteristic of Baudelaire's readingof thistext.Poe

writesof "thisoverwhelming tendencyto do wrongforthewrong'ssake" (1984b, 827)
whichbecomes in Baudelaire "cettetendanceaccablante à fairele mal pour l'amour
du mal" (Poe, 1965,51). I propose to focuson thereadingof thisstorythatBaudelaire
undertakesin the Petitspoèmes en prose through"Le Mauvais Vitrier"- a keytextin
thatit shows how Baudelaire's readingof Poe transforms any suggestionspicked up
fromArsène Houssaye, to whom the book is dedicated,and who, he says,soughtto
capturethecryof the vitrier in a poetryof Paris.
Poe's storymoves froma lengthyexplanationof the principleof perversenessto
examplesthatare surprising, in thattheyare scarcelywhatwe expectto illustratethe
idea of doing wrongforwrong'ssake: "There lives no man who at some period,has
not been tormented,for example, by an earnest desire to tantalize a listenerby
circumlocution" (1984b,828). The descriptionthatfollowsis in factquitewonderful, a
circumlocutory dramatization, after which the next example, also vividlydramatized,is
procrastination - againstone's own bestinterests - and finally,
thetemptation to throw
oneselfovera precipice,because one knowsone should not.We might,Poe concludes,
"deem thisperversenessa directinstigation oftheArch-Fiend,wereitnotoccasionally
knownto operatein furtherance of good", to make a murdererconfess,forexample,
againsthis own interests (1984b,829).
Baudelaire's text begins not with a principlepushing us to procrastinationbut,
inversely,with a principleperverselyimpellingprocrastinators, contemplatives,or
inoffensive dreamersto "les actes les plus absurdeset souventmême les plus dange-
reux",such as settingfireto a forestto see whatwould happen,lightinga cigarbeside a
powder-barrel to testfate,or suddenlyembracingan unknownpasser-by,who knows
why(1975,1,285). Baudelaire'sspeakerthenproceedsto describeone "de ces criseset
de ces élans" (286) of whichhe himselfhad been victimand which"nous autorisentà
croireque des Démons malicieuxse glissenten nous et nous fontaccomplir,à notre
insu, leurs plus absurdes volontés"(286): he broke all the window panes of a poor
vitrierplyinghis tradein thequartier.The narratoroffersscantexplanation,observing
that "II me seraitd'ailleurs impossiblede dire pourquoi je fus pris à l'égard de ce
pauvre homme d'une haine aussi soudaine que despotique" (286), but what may
appear unmotivatedat a psychologicallevel is allegoricallymotivated.The speaker
tellsus thathe arose,"fatiguéd'oisiveté,et poussé,me semblait-il, à fairequelque chose
de grand,une action d'éclat" (286, my italics).What he does, then,is to produce
precisely"le bruitéclatant d'un palais de cristalcrevé par la foudre"(287) - "une
actiond'éclat" indeed. Callingthe vitrier to come up to his roomon theseventhfloor,
he chastiseshim forplyinghis trade in poor neighborhoodswithout"des verresde
couleur","des verresroses,rouges,bleus,des vitresmagiques,des vitresde paradis" -
"de vitresqui fassentvoir la vie en beau" (287). The complaintis generatedby a
literalisationof the figure"voir la vie en beau" ; clearlythisrequiresa special sortof
windowpane. When the vitrier returnsto thestreet,the speakerdrops on him froma
balcony"un petitpot de fleurs",his "enginde guerre"(287). Is it an accidentthatthis
enginde guerreis a "pot de fleurs",recallingthetheoristof perversity? These may or
may notbe des Fleursdu Mal, but theyare certainlydes Fleursquifontdu mal to the

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 Baudelaire
andPoe 71

destroying"toutesa pauvrefortuneambulatoire"(287). The emphasison

poor vitrier,
verres- as in "verresde couleurs,verresroses" - suggestsa connectionwithverses.
Baudelaire is certainlythinkingin these termsin 1859 when he writesto his editor
Poulet-Malassis,"Nouvelles Fleursdu Mal faites.A toutcasser,commeune explosion
de gaz chez un vitrier"(1966,1,568); and twoweekslaterhe writesto thephotographer
and artistNadar thatfora frontispiece to his Poe articleshe wantsa portraitsurroun-
ded withallegoricalfiguresrepresenting Poe's principalconceptionsand forthe new
editionof Les Fleurs du mal "un squelettearborescent"protectingseveral rows of
"plantesvénéneuses,dans des petitspots. . ." (1966,1,577, myitalics).
But whatdoes thishave to do with"The Imp of the Perverse",one mightask? The
perverseact of Baudelaire'sspeakermakesuse of Poe accordingto a generalprinciple
sketchedin quite different formin "The Imp of the Perverse."Poe's narratorexplains
thathe had committeda cleverly-planned murderand had escaped all suspicionbut
would findhimself"repeating,in a low undertone,the phrase,'I am safe.'" Once,
whilemurmuring thesecustomarysyllables,"In a fitof petulance,I remodelledthem
thus:- *I am safe - I am safe - yes - ifI be notfoolenoughto make open confession!'
No sooner had I spoken these words,than I feltan icy chill creep to my heart",
knowingthatthe compulsionto performthe act would prove irresistible, as indeed it
does (1984b,831).
I suggestthat it is fromsuch tales, where an utteranceor verbal formulation
produces an event, that Baudelaire learned what would be one of the principal
techniquesof the Petitpoèmes en prose - the generationof an allegoricalnarrative
throughtheliteralization of a phraseor a figure.It is strikingthathis prosepoem which
focuses on perversity is constructedon a versionof the device that animates Poe's
story,as wordgeneratesevent.There is, of course,a difference betweenthetwo texts:
whereas Poe's storyarticulatesa theoryof perversity to explain an event which is
presentedwithinthe storyas havingbeen generatedby language,adducing a psycho-
logical mechanismto move us away fromthe linguisticmechanism,Baudelaire's
narrativeleaves unexplained perverseevents which seem to have been generated
allegoricallyby language, thus foregrounding that semioticmechanism,illustrating
whatthetitleof one of Poe's prose textstranslatedby Baudelairecalls "The Powerof
Words".
The pot de fleurs,the action d'éclat, the vitresqui fassent voirla vie en beau are
examples of what Baudelaire called a "calembouren action". A vivid and perverse
appears in an incidentthatAsselineaureports:one whenhe and Baudelaire
illustration
were visitingVerteuil,the secretaryof the Théâtre-Français,Baudelaire nearlymade
the poor man faintwithterrorby describingto him,in minuteand lovingdetail,the
varioustorturessufferedby missionaries,as representedin an exhibitiontheyhad just
visitedat the Salle des Missions. "N'est-ce pas, Monsieur Verteuil,qu'il est beau de
souffrirpour sa foi!" As the poor man triesto escape, Baudelaire offersthe crowning
example: "'Un de ces soldatschinois,poursuivaitBaudelaireimpitoyable,(...) ouvre
la poitrinede la victimeavec son poignard,lui arrachele cœurtoutsanglantet l'avale!
un calembouren action! vous comprenez,monsieurVerteuil?- pour se donner du
cœur!'" Asselineau reports,"Baudelaire sortitradieux.Ce spectacle pour lui étaitsi
beau!" (Crépet,297).

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72 Culler
Jonathan

Well mightBaudelaire identifywiththissoldat chinois,puttingan expressioninto

action, allowing it to generatea narrative.This is somethinghe learned fromPoe,
whose story"Loss of Breath"is the tale of someone who literallyloses his breath,
cannot catch it; whose "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" exploresthe danger that
what you metaphorically bet may be taken literallyand literallytaken; whose "The
Systemof Doctor Tarr and ProfessorFeather"exploresthe possibilityof producing
cures throughliteralizingfigures- holding yourtongue,for example; whose "The
Power of Words" representsthe Earth as havingbeen spoken into birthby a word.
Some of Poe's tales are more interesting variationson the calembouren action,as
when,in "The Black Cat", thenarratorwho tortures thecat findsthat,"I knewmyself
no longer"- perhapsbecause he cut out its eye. And the literalizationof representa-
tionsis exploredin othermedia as well,whenthe representation of a horse emerges
froma tapestryand becomes deadly forbaron Metzengerstein or when the compli-
mentpaid to the Oval Portraitin the tale of thatname, a portraitso consummately
done thatone says "thisis lifeitself",becomes literallytrueand takesthe sitter'slife:
she dropsdead as theportraitcaptureslifeitself.
Baudelaire put this techniqueto use in a range of prose poems, fromthe more
obvious examples of "Le Galant Tireur",which is generatedfromthe expression
"Tuer le temps",to thenarrativization of "le don de plaire" in "Les Dons des fées",to
the morelocal and restrainedliteralizationof puns in otherprose poems: "Une mort
héroïque"speaks of an "expériencephysiologiqued'un intérêtcapital" whichprodu-
ces "capital" punishment, or of a "sifflet,
rapidecommeun glaive"whichactuallykills
like a sword (1975, I, 320, 322); "Le Joueurgénéreux"exploresthe expression"bon
diable". To exploretheseand othercalemboursen action is a task foranotherpaper,
but as readersof foreignlanguageare inclinedto noticeor even to imaginepuns,so it
was, I think,in reading,in a foreignlanguage he did not know verywell,the author
whose name seemed almost to make him the "poète" par excellenceand whose
engagementwith the fantasticenabled him to explore widely the literalizationof
figures,thatBaudelairefoundthegermfortheallegoricalmethodof the Petitspoèmes
enprose.
Poe evenhintsthattheremightbe some speciallinkbetweenthecalembouren action
and the Frenchlanguage in his story"Berenice",a tale whichcertainlyillustrates the
force of a certain "démon de la perversité".The hero Egaeus, who suffersfrom
monomania,has an inclination"to muse forlong unweariedhourswithmyattention
rivetedto some frivolousdeviceon themargin,or in thetypography of a book; ... to
repeatmonotonously some common word, untilthe sound,by dintof frequentrepeti-
tion,ceased to conveyanyidea whateverto themind"(1984b,227). He notonlydwells
upon formsof language,investingthemwithspecial import,but, as he reports,the
object of his attention"was invariablyfrivolous,although assuming,throughthe
mediumof my distemperedvision,a refractedand unreal importance"(1984b, 228).
Egaeus is betrothedto Berenice,who, like all Poe's women, is dyingof mysterious
ailments.She appears beforehim,emaciatedand silent,but herthinand shrunkenlips
partand, "in a smileof peculiarmeaning,theteethof the changed Berenicedisclosed
themselvesslowlyto myview" (1984b,230). The visionof theseperfectteethbecomes

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 Baudelaireand Poe 73

his obsession("Would to God thatI had neverbeheld them,or that,havingdone so, I

had died!" (230)). "In the multipliedobjects of the externalworld I had no thoughts
but forthe teeth.For these I longed witha phrenzieddesire" (231). The question of
Berenice'sidentitybecomes a dentalobsession.
I dweltupontheirpeculiarities. I pondered upontheirconformation ... I shuddered as I
assignedto themin imagination a sensitive
and sentient
power,and evenwhenunas-
sistedbythelips,a capability of moralexpression. Of Mad'selleSallé it has beenwell
said,''''quetoussespas étaient
dessentiments" andofBereniceI moreseriously believed
desidées.Des idées]- ah herewastheidiotie
quetoussesdentsétaient that
thought
me!(231).
destroyed
The Frenchphraseseemsto providehimwitha semioticparadigm:ifA's pas are
thenperhapsB's dentsarethoughts.
feelings Thatsignrelation or"idioticthought," as
hecorrectlycallsit,seemsgenerated alsobya verbalecho- sesdents/des idées- nota
pun but a transformation of thesignifier. "Des idées! - ah therefore it was thatI
covetedthemso madly!I feltthattheirpossessioncould alone everrestoreme to
peace,ingiving mebacktoreason"(1984a,231).Whenhe hearsthatBerenice is dead,
theassociationproducedby theverbal equivalence,ses dents
/des idées,joinedwitha
Latinproverb whichinstructs thatvisiting
thegraveoffriends willlighten one'scares,
mysteriouslyimpels in
him, a stupor,to robthe graveand pulloutall ofthe teethofthe
womanwho,itturnsout,hadbeenburiedalivewhileinan epileptic trance.
ThatFrenchphrase,"que tousses dentsétaientdes idées",luridand bizarre, now
seemstosuggest thatwhatPoe wastrying todo hadtobe putintoFrench, as ifitwere
themedium inwhichsuchrelations belong,andwhilethisis scarcely an explanation of
Baudelaire'sPetits en
poèmes prose, itservesas indication
allegorical of Poe's perverse
forthe French,whichbecame,in Baudelaire'swriting,
affinity a representational
strategy.

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