Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 91 of 121
1834 · September 9, 1834
French
p. 181Le 9.
En ce moment, il y a mélange dans mon âme, mélange d’amertume et de douceur, confusion de miel et de fiel, pêle-mêle étrange. Depuis quelques jours, mon esprit, déjà si peu réglé, est saisi d’une inquiète et ardente mobilité qui le fait aller et venir de l’un à l’autre pôle, qui ne le laisse plus se poser et s’asseoir au centre d’un ordre d’idées ou de croyances, mais l’emporte rapidement de région en région et l’incline en passant sur tous les abîmes. Je goûte une étrange volupté à sentir mon âme enlevée comme ce prophète qu’un ange emporta par les cheveux, et traversant d’une effroyable vitesse d’immenses étendues. Mais que me revient-il de ces voyages effrénés? Lassitude, éblouissement, surcroît de vertige, et pourtant, au fond de tout cela, un bien-aise secret de l’amour-propre qui s’applaudit du brûlant voyage et irrite sourdement la passion naissante de mon âme pour ces périlleuses aventures. À la campagne, durant les molles journées, le ravisseur venait aussi prendre mon âme; ils s’en allaient bien loin tous les deux, mais d’un vol plus tempéré et par des contrées plus sereines, bien qu’aussi vagues et ondoyantes. Comme aujourd’hui, mon âme, de retour, ne savait plus que croire de toutes choses, mais il y avait dans son embarras moins de trouble et de préoccupation inquiète.
The Green Notebook: 1834
p. 182September 9, 1834
At this moment there is a mixture in my soul, a mixture of bitterness and sweetness, a confusion of honey and gall, a strange jumble. For some days my mind, already so little governed, has been seized by a restless and ardent mobility which makes it go and come from one pole to the other, which no longer lets it settle and seat itself at the center of an order of ideas or beliefs, but carries it swiftly from region to region and, in passing, bends it over every abyss. I taste a strange delight in feeling my soul borne away like that prophet whom an angel carried off by the hair, traversing immense expanses at a fearful speed. But what do I gain from these unbridled journeys? Weariness, dazzle, increased vertigo, and yet, at the bottom of it all, a secret satisfaction of self-love which applauds the burning journey and quietly stimulates my soul’s budding passion for these perilous adventures. In the countryside, during those languid days, the abductor also came to take my soul; the two went very far away, but in a more tempered flight, through more serene regions, though just as vague and shifting. As today, my soul on its return no longer knew what to believe about anything, but there was less disturbance and anxious preoccupation in its perplexity.
Socrates
Reading The Green Notebook · 1834 · September 9, 1834
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.