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Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

Maurice de Guérin

The Green Notebook

French with an independent English translation.

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The Green Notebook1835 · June 12, 1835

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English Page · Branch 113 of 121

1835 · June 12, 1835

Book Mode

French

p. 225

Le 12.

Je ne commets pas mes actions mauvaises impétueusement. Il y a au fond de moi je ne sais quelles eaux mortes et mortelles comme cet étang profond où périt Sténio le poëte.

225

The Green Notebook: 1835

p. 226

June 12, 1835

I do not commit my bad actions impetuously. At the bottom of me there are I know not what dead and deadly waters, like that deep pool where Sténio the poet perished.

226

About This Reading Edition

Maurice de Guérin’s journal moves between close attention to nature, friendship, faith, and the inward demands of poetry. This bilingual edition presents the complete Journal section of the 1864 printing, with a separate appendix of earlier printed passages from 1861.

Historical Text and Translation

The French follows G. S. Trébutien’s sixth edition of Journal, lettres et poèmes (Paris: Didier et Cie, 1864), pages 3–126. Its 116 dated entries run from July 1832 to October 1835. Five earlier passages from Reliquiae (1861) appear separately in the appendix. Completeness refers to the printed Journal, rather than the autograph notebook; the following letters and poems are outside this edition.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the French, preserving Guérin’s imagery, repetitions, intimate voice, and original paragraph divisions. French and English remain aligned for comparison. Translator’s notes clarify words, quotations, and allusions, while historical editor notes retain their separate attribution. The Essential setting keeps explanations useful to reading; All also includes the note on the edition’s typographic treatment.

Rights

The historical French printings are in the public domain in the United States. The independent English translation and new editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. The linked facsimiles identify the printed witnesses used for this edition. Historical annotations and editorial conjectures remain attributed to their source editors, and the earlier variant passages are presented separately from the later Journal text.