did not find in his protagonist [Charles Baudelaire] a paragon of existentialist engagement. You can open the book almost at random and find such judgments as: "he was nothing but a gaping wound;" "his bad faith went so deep that he was no longer master of it;" "he never progressed beyond the stage of childhood;" "He was an eternal minor, a middle-aged adolescent who lived in a constant state of rage and hatred, but under the vigilant and reassuring protection of others."It's true that Baudelaire seemed less interested in finding reasonable solutions to his many problems than in cultivating his hysteria.
from The Millions: The Poet Who Died for Our Sins: On Charles Baudelaire
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