Charles Baudelaire? Christopher Isherwood? Sonya Stephens? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: The French poet, essayist, and art critic Charles Baudelaire wrote provocatively about his experiences in life including erotic feelings, drug-induced states, and cosmic perceptions. Apparently, he once said:
There are moments in one’s existence when time and space are deepened, and the feeling of existence is immensely heightened.
The original statement was in French, and I do not know the exact phrasing. Would you please help me to find a citation if one exists?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Charles Baudelaire died in 1867. His posthumous works included a collection of short passages called “Fusées” (“Flares”) which contained the following text. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Le surnaturel comprend la couleur générale et l’accent, c’est-à-dire intensité sonorité, limpidité, vibrativité, profondeur et retentissement dans l’espace et dans le temps.
Il ya des moments de l’existence où le temps et l’étendue sont plus profonds, et le sentiment de l’existence immensément augmenté.
The passage above is difficult to translate. In 1930 the English novelist Christopher Isherwood published the following rendering:2
The supernatural comprises the general colour and accent—that is to say, the intensity, sonority, limpidity, vibrancy, depth and reverberation in Space and Time.
There are moments of existence at which Time and Duration are more profound, and the Sense of Being is enormously quickened.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1966 the translators Carley Dawson and Elliott Coleman suggested the following for the final sentence:3
There are moments in life when time and extent are more profound, and the feeling of existence immensely augmented.
In 1972 “Proust and Rilke: The Literature of Expanded Consciousness” by E. F. N. Jephcott contained the following rendering:4
Time and space are both involved inseparably in the privileged moment, and in the statement which may be taken as Baudelaire’s definition of the experience, both are mentioned equally: ‘There are moments of existence when time and space are deepened, and the feeling of existence immensely augmented.’
In 2005 “The Cambridge Companion to Baudelaire” included a chapter by Sonya Stephens in which she offered the following translation:5
The ‘surnaturel’ is defined, in Fusées, as:
comprising both the general colour and tone, that is to say intensity, sonority, clarity, vibrativity, depth and repercussion in both space and time. There are moments of existence when time and expanse are deeper and the sense of existence immensely heightened.
In 2022 “Late Fragments” contained a translation by Richard Sieburth:6
The subjective glimpse of the “supernatural,” as Baudelaire goes on to explain, includes “the overall color and accent, that is, the intensity, sonority, limpidity, vibrancy, depth, and reverberation in space and time in which the sensation of existence is immensely heightened.”
In 2024 “Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of Disenchantment” by Charles Taylor included the following rendering:7
There are moments in one’s existence when time and space are deeper, and the feeling of existence immensely increased.
In conclusion, Charles Baudelaire did craft this quotation in French, and it was published posthumously in the collection titled “Fusées” (“Flares”). The meaning is elusive, and there are many different translations into English.
Image Notes: Illustration of a white rose from Joleńka at Pixabay. The image has been resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Mardy Grothe whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Grothe operates the wonderful website “Great Opening Lines”.
- 1887, Œuvres Posthumes et Correspondances Inédites (Posthumous Works and Unpublished Correspondence) by Charles Baudelaire, Part: Journaux Intimes (Diaries), Chapter: Fusées (Rockets), Section: XVII, Quote Page 81, Maison Quantin: Compagnie Générale D’Impression et D’Édition, Paris, France. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1949 (First published 1930), Intimate Journals by Charles Baudelaire, Translation by Christopher Isherwood, Section: Squibs, Number XVII, Quote Page 12, Methuen & Company, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1966, The Metamorphoses of the Circle by Georges Poulet, Translated from the French by Carley Dawson and Elliott Coleman in collaboration with the author, Chapter 14: Baudelaire, Quote Page 274, The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Maryland. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1972 Copyright, Proust and Rilke: The Literature of Expanded Consciousness by E. F. N. Jephcott, Chapter One: Privileged Moments in Literature, Quote Page 25, Barnes & Noble Books, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2005 Copyright, The Cambridge Companion to Baudelaire, Edited by Rosemary Lloyd of Indiana University, Chapter 5: The Prose Poems by Sonya Stephens, Note 3, Quote Page 86, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2022, Late Fragments: Flares, My Heart Laid Bare, Prose Poems, Belgium Disrobed by Charles Baudelaire, Translated from the French and Edited by Richard Sieburth, Part One: Flares, Hygiene, My Heart Laid Bare, Chapter: Introduction: Brevities, Quote Page 59, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2024, Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of Disenchantment by Charles Taylor, Chapter: Note on “Symbolism”, Quote Page 474, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Google Books Preview) ↩︎