Essence of Laughter and Other Essays, Journals and Letters

by Charles Baudelaire

Ce qui suffirait pour dmontrer que le comique est un des plus clairs signes sataniques de l'homme et un des nombreux ppins contenus dans la pomme symbolique, est l'accord unanime des physiologistes du rire sur la raison premire de ce monstrueux phnomne. Le rire, disent-ils, vient de la supriorit. Je ne serais pas tonn que devant cette dcouverte le physiologiste se ft mis rire en pensant sa propre supriorit. Aussi, il fallait dire : Le rire vient de l'ide de sa propre supriorit. Ide satanique s'il en fut jamais ! Orgueil et aberration ! Or, il est notoire que tous les fous des hpitaux ont l'ide de leur propre supriorit dveloppe outre mesure. Je ne connais gure de fous d'humilit. Remarquez que le rire est une des expressions les plus frquentes et les plus nombreuses de la folie.

Genres: France, Philosophy, Humor, Essays

Paperback

First published May 21, 2011

About the author

Public condemned Les fleurs du mal (1857), obscene only volume of French writer, translator, and critic Charles Pierre Baudelaire; expanded in 1861, it exerted an enormous influence over later symbolist and modernist poets.

Reputation of Charles Pierre Baudelaire rests primarily on perhaps the most important literary art collection, published in Europe in the 19th century. Similarly, his early experiment Petits poèmes en prose (1868) ( Little Prose Poems ) most succeeded and innovated of the time.

From financial disaster to prosecution for blasphemy, drama and strife filled life of known Baudelaire with highly controversial and often dark tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Long after his death, his name represents depravity and vice. He seemingly speaks directly to the 20th century civilization.

Reviews

[Yann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cet essai, écrit au milieu du XIXeme, est un petit peu labyrinthique, mais le sujet est difficile. On retrouve comme dans Stendhal, et bien d'autres, que le rire est la marque d'un sentiment de supériorité. Baudelaire livre quelques définitions du grotesque, de la pantomine, établit une distinction entre un comique absolu et un comique significatif, mais l'idée centrale est que le rire est diabolique. Logique, pour une religion qui prône l'humilité et flétrit l'orgueil, au rebours des usages des gentils.

[The Literary Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engrossing essays by Baudelaire on art, hashish,and the essence of laughter. Prior awareness of painter Constantin Guys a must for the art section since it's basically all about his works, but at least I found out about him even if later than sooner. Especially interesting was Baudelaire's discussion of the satanic nature of laughter. Also, inclusions of some notes, journal entries, letters, and prose versions of several poems from The Flowers of Evil. As well written an essayist as de Quincey, although not quite as broad.

[Elif Yigit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Komik olanı anlamlandıran şeye dair açılan tartışma, komik olan özneyle komik olan şey arasındaki bağı düşünmeye itiyor bizi. Bir üstünlük belirtisi olarak gülme, zayıflık göstergesi olarak gülme, şeytani, dolayısıyla insani olan gülme...Komiğin belirdiği, patladığı ya da oluştuğu anda zorunlu ve mutlak olan iki varlığın temellendirilmesini okuyoruz. Boudelaire aynı zamanda felsefi olan bu girişten sonra Fransa'ya karikatürleriyle damgasını vuran mizahçıları değerlendiriyor. Böylece örnek eserleri doğrudan inceleme fırsatı buluyoruz.

[Bercem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gülmenin sadece "mutlu" "pozitif" bir ifade olması dışında acımasızlığı ve kibri üzerine de hoş yorumlar vardı. Onu sevdim.
Sonrasında Fransız karikatüristler üzerinden incelemeler yapılmış.
İlginiz varsa güzel olmakla beraber benim ayrıca bir merakım olmadığından pek iz bırakmadı

[Aby · Rating 1 out of 5]

rip baudelaire you would’ve liked joker (2019)

[basker ville · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a slow read for me. Most of it was dry and excruciatingly full of references that were hard to follow. But I expected it to be that way. I adored the essay on hashish and its hallucinogenic tolls on different characters.
My favorite quote of his in the book -
What is love? The need to escape from one self. Man is a worshipping animal. To worship is to sacrifice oneself and to prostitute oneself. Therefore all love is prostitution.
The most prostituted being of all is the ultimate being that is, God - since he is the supreme lover to each individual; since he is the communal inexhaustible reservoir of love.

[Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Je n'ai sûrement pas tout compris à cet essai mais, à mon sens, Baudelaire s'est restreint à une thèse : le rire chez homme est satanique. Il aurait pu aller bien plus loin dans ces idées, bien que ce ne soit un court ouvrage (et une préface à origine).

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lu en lecture personnelle afin d’enrichir mon cours de littérature du XVIe sur le rire. J’ai adoré la plume de Baudelaire dans l’essai (que je n’avais approchée que dans ses poèmes jusqu’à maintenant)

[Anaïs · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Pas mon sujet mais intéressant.

[ZN · Rating 3 out of 5]

fransiz sanatcilari hakkinda bir seyler ogrenmek guzeldi

[Giulia]

Per lavoro.