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Why did Jacques Aupick send Charles Baudelaire on a voyage toward India?
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Charles Baudelaire
French poet and critic Charles Baudelaire, photograph by Étienne Carjat, 1863.
Jacques Aupick sent his stepson, Charles Baudelaire, on a voyage to India in June 1841 in an attempt to remove him from the disreputable company he was keeping in Paris.1
At the time, Baudelaire was leading a "free life" in the Latin Quarter, where he had made contacts in the literary world and contracted a venereal disease. Aupick hoped the long journey would distance the young poet from these influences, though the plan was ultimately unsuccessful as Baudelaire jumped ship in Mauritius and returned to France in early 1842. Despite the failed intent of the trip, the experience provided Baudelaire with exotic imagery and sensations that significantly enriched his later writing.1