Cause It's Schadenfreude...People Taking Pleasure in Your Pain!

"Le Mauvais Vitrier" - Charles Baudelaire - 1864

French - English

Note: I did not use the English translation I found as I read this story in the original French, and because I found it online, it is probably not the best one or possibly not a published one.

Found more commonly in André Breton’s Anthologie de l’humour noir, Charles Baudelaire’s short story, “Le Mauvais Vitrier,” about men who act impulsively and counter-intuitively examines absurd and irrational comedic acts of violence. Baudelaire’s short story both acts as a funny little counter-point to the overwhelming realism of the time as well as an insight to absurdist thought. Breton, an avid critic of realism, added this story to his anthology of texts that influenced the Surrealist movement because it rejects common logic and the semiotics that writers like Balzac championed. The characters in Baudelaire’s “Le Mauvais Vitrier” ignore their place and their previous characteristics and act irrationally for no discernable reason. It is in these impulsive acts that the comedy, the black humor, arises.

The first example Baudelaire gives of one of his friends – already a vague and noncommittal statement due to the improbability of such a friend existing – who is “le plus inoffensif rêveur qui ait existé” sets fire to a forest eleven times because maybe he wants to see if the rapidity of forest fires is as true as he thought. He is proved correct on the eleventh time and Baudelaire says satisfactorily that “elle réussit beaucoup trop bien” – he achieved his goal a little too well.

The first part of “Le Mauvais Vitrier” is written as a sort of essay that tries to uncover why people do things that are uncharacteristic of themselves, betraying their role in society. Baudelaire proposes that perhaps this phenomenon has something to do with “physionomie,” a word that should stand out to anyone who has read a Balzac novel. Balzac, who was obsessed with the categorization of people, classifying them as if he were a taxonomist, uses scientific words like “physionomie” over and over again in his work. Baudelaire considers the taxonomist’s point of view but dismisses it nonchalantly and casually moves on to the next hypothesis. Eventually he abandons this structural approach and simply announces that he does not know, which implies it almost does not matter.

Ultimately his examination of these strange occurrences prompts the narrator to partake. He indulges in his violent, irrational tendencies and persuades the reader to feel joy along with him as he pushes over and finally drops a flowerpot on the poor glazier. Baudelaire’s narrator faces no repercussions and fully endorses the violence that he commits, urging the reader to dance along with him and chant “La vie est beau! la vie est beau!” as well. He acknowledges that perhaps there could be tough consequences, but in the end, isn’t it worth the risk to find that bit of joy that comes from acting impulsively? The type of schadenfreude examined in Baudelaire’s short story implies that violence can be a form of entertainment, not only in its representational form, but also in the act itself. “Le Mauvais Vitrier” is a comical read and although the glazier’s plight is not examined past the short description of all of his fortune being crushed, the last sentiment we are left with is one of happiness and joy found on the narrator’s behalf. Violence can be fun and funny!

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