Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
Swipe or use the arrow keys.
English Page · Branch 1 of 121
1832 · At Le Cayla, July 10, 1832
French
p. 1Au Cayla, 10 juillet 1832.
Voici bientôt trois mois et demi que je suis à la campagne, sous le toit paternel, at home (délicieuse expression anglaise qui résume tout le chez soi), au centre d’un horizon chéri. J’ai vu le printemps, et le printemps au large, libre, dégagé de toute contrainte, jetant fleurs et verdure à son caprice, courant comme un enfant folâtre par nos vallons et nos collines, étalant conceptions sublimes et fantaisies gracieuses, rapprochant les genres, harmonisant les contrastes à la manière ou plutôt pour l’exemple des grands artistes. Je me suis assis au fond des bois, au bord des ruisseaux, sur la croupe des collines; j’ai remis le pied partout où je l’avais posé, enfant, rapidement et avec toute l’insouciance de cet âge. Aujourd’hui, je l’y ai appuyé fortement; j’ai insisté sur mes traces primitives; j’ai recommencé mon pèlerinage avec recueillement et dévotion, avec le recueillement des souvenirs et la dévotion de l’âme à ses premières impressions de paysage.
The Green Notebook: 1832
p. 2At Le Cayla, July 10, 1832
It will soon be three and a half months since I came to the country, beneath my father’s roof, at home (that delightful English expression that contains the whole meaning of chez soi), at the heart of a beloved horizon. I have seen spring, and spring at large, free, released from every constraint, scattering flowers and greenery at its whim, running like a playful child through our valleys and over our hills, displaying sublime conceptions and graceful fancies, bringing genres together, harmonizing contrasts in the manner of great artists, or rather as an example to them. I have sat deep in the woods, beside streams, on the rounded backs of the hills; I have set my foot again wherever I placed it as a child, swiftly and with all the carefree ease of that age. Today I have planted it firmly; I have lingered over my earliest footprints; I have begun my pilgrimage anew with inward stillness and devotion, with the stillness of recollection and the soul’s devotion to its first impressions of landscape.
Socrates
Reading The Green Notebook · 1832 · At Le Cayla, July 10, 1832
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.