Baudelaire's Une Mort Heroique: A New Interpretation

BAUDELAIRE'S UNE MORT HEROÏQUE: A NEW INTERPRETATION by Francis S. Heck* / J 1 ROCKT MOUNTAIN REVIEW BAUDELAIRE'S UNE MORT HEROÏQUE: A NEW INTERPRETATION by Francis S. Heck* In Fusées (written between 1855 and 1862),! Baudelaire proposes the following project for himself: Concevoir un canevas pour une bouffonnerie lyrique ou féerique, pour une pantomime, et traduire cela en un roman sérieux. Noyer le tout dans une atmosphère anormale et songeuse, — dans l'atmosphère des grands jours. — Que ce soit quelque chose de berçant, — même de serein dans la passion. — Régions de la Poésie pure. (OC, p. 1261) The ultimate result of this intuition is the prose poem, "Une Mort héroïque," published in October, 1863. It is immediately apparent that the poem does not religiously adhere to the original outline. Despite his many expressions in favor of continuous application, Baudelaire never writes a novel. Furthermore, instead of the "grandsjours" in France, the poet in the prose poem evokes some unspecified "petit Etat" (OC, p. 271), somewhat similar to a German state (cf. certain descriptions of courts in Benjamin Constant's Adolphe). It would seem, however, that these modifications are rather minimal. A greater contradiction exists between the poet's expressed intention of saturating his poem with "quelque chose de berçant, — et même de serein dans la passion," and the stark tragedy of the buffoon's grotesque death in front of the assembled court. At any rate, the grotesque is more characteristic of Baudelaire than either "berçant" or "serein" (witness the poem, "Une Charogne"). Finally, "Régions de la poésie pure" will be applicable to "Une Mort héroïque" by virtue of the performance of Fancioulle. In short, the prose 'FRANCIS S. HECK, Associate Professor of French at the University of Wyoming, has published articles on French and Comparative Literature in several journals. He teaches courses on nineteenth-century French literature. 1. Charles Baudelaire, OEuvres complètes (Paris: Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 1961), p. 1717. Subsequent references will be in the text to OC. ??ßVOL. 33, NO. 4 (Fall 1979) Baudelaire's Une Mort Héroïque: poem has evolved from the germ of the idea in Fusées, but it has developed on its own, independently. As an esthete and a voluptuary seeking to overcome an oppressive boredom, the Prince of "Une Mort héroïque" is undoubtedly similar to Baudelaire. The Prince, moreover, intends to manipulate Fancioulle in a manner somewhat similar to that employed by Baudelaire vis-à-vis Samuel Cramer, his hero in the nouvelle, La Fanfarlo. This type of manipulation betrays a degree of romantic irony, inasmuch as "the writer must feel ambivalent toward his work: he stands above and apart from it and manipulates it almost playfully."2 The Prince, though, does not remain completely detached from the situation, and later becomes emotionally involved in it. A further explanation is necessary for his reaction against Fancioulle. The Prince's primary interest in subjecting Fancioulle to the ordeal of performing in the shadow of death is to judge "la valeur des talents scéniques d'un homme condamné à mort." This value judgment, however, will be based entirely upon whatever physical indications of fear or apprehension Fancioulle might betray in the course of the ensuing pantomime. The Prince.therefore, "voulait profiter de l'occasion pour faire une expérience physiologique" (italics ours). In spite of the fact that he is referred to ironically as a "véritable artiste" (OC, p. 270), the Prince reflects the attitude of the positivist, Hippolyte Taine, who states that "c'est par déduction et d'après les lois physiques qu'on pourra expliquer les phénomènes physiologiques."3 The Prince is evidently adopting Taine's method; he is assuming the role of a scientist of the incipient positivistic mold. In this new era of positivistic determinism (Darwin's Origin of the Species appears in 1859), more and more enthusiasm is engendered for science. Its all-encompassing role is extolled by Taine in his article on Byron in 1862, where it is stated that science "a dépassé le monde...