Abstract

Letters written over the course of 1859–60 tell of an effort on Charles Baudelaire’s part to republish Charles Meryon’s Vues sur Paris, augmented with descriptive texts by the poet. The collaboration failed and, ever since, readers have wondered what would have come of it. At the same time, Baudelaire was “courting” Victor Hugo, sending him new and not-quite-new poems dedicated to him. At the very end of 1859, Baudelaire includes his Salon description of Meryon’s etchings in a letter to Hugo, one Walter Benjamin qualifies as among Baudelaire’s best prose pieces. Further, Baudelaire cites Hugo in his description of Meryon’s etchings, and declares that the etchings would certainly please him. Was the promise of more texts about the etchings nothing more than the tail end of an effort to please Hugo? Whatever the case, the project’s failure is not simply to be laid to the account of Meryon, afflicted by “délire mélancolique compliqué d’hallucination,” and dying at Charenton the year following Baudelaire’s own death. Baudelaire’s decisions are difficult to understand, and seem as influenced by Hugo as by other considerations. In particular, in his description of Meryon’s etchings, Baudelaire seeks to “inscribe” something on them, much as Hugo sought to inscribe his father’s name in his representation of the Arc de Triomphe. In fact, Baudelaire imposes the story of a dispute between father and son, or more exactly, God and man, on the etchings, a story modeled on his own relations to Hugo. Later accounts of Meryon follow the same pattern, insisting on finding narratives in images that they all acknowledge as monumental. This insistence on finding diachrony in synchronic images is the madness that afflicted Meryon.

摘要

在 1859–60 年间写的信件讲述了查尔斯·波德莱尔 (Charles Baudelaire) 努力重新出版查尔斯·梅里恩 (Charles Meryon) 的《巴黎风光》( Vues sur Paris )，并增加了诗人的描述性文字。合作失败了，从那以后，读者一直想知道它会发生什么。与此同时，波德莱尔正在“讨好”维克多·雨果，给他寄来献给他的新诗和不太新的诗。1859 年末，波德莱尔包括他的沙龙沃尔特·本雅明 (Walter Benjamin) 在给雨果的一封信中描述了梅里翁 (Meryon) 的蚀刻版画，堪称波德莱尔 (Baudelaire) 最好的散文作品之一。此外，波德莱尔在描述梅里翁的蚀刻版画时引用了雨果的话，并宣称这些蚀刻版画肯定会让他满意。关于蚀刻版画的更多文本的承诺是否只不过是取悦雨果的努力的尾声？无论如何，该项目的失败并不仅仅归咎于 Meryon，他受到“délire mélancolique compliqué d'hallucination”的折磨，并在 Baudelaire 自己死后的第二年在 Charenton 死去。波德莱尔的决定很难理解，而且似乎受到雨果和其他因素的影响。特别是，在描述梅里翁的蚀刻版画时，波德莱尔试图在其上“刻上”一些东西，就像雨果试图在他描绘的凯旋门上刻上他父亲的名字一样。事实上，波德莱尔将父子之间的争执故事，或者更确切地说，神与人之间的争执故事强加在蚀刻版画上，一个以他自己与雨果的关系为蓝本的故事。后来对 Meryon 的描述遵循相同的模式，坚持在他们都认为具有纪念意义的图像中寻找叙事。坚持在共时图像中寻找历时性是折磨梅里恩的疯狂。