Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 116 of 121
1835 · October 13, 1835
French
p. 231Le 13 octobre.
J’ai voyagé. Je ne sais quel mouvement de mon destin m’a porté sur les rives d’un fleuve jusqu’à la mer. J’ai vu le long de ce fleuve des plaines où la nature est puissante et gaie, de royales et antiques demeures marquées de souvenirs qui tiennent leur place dans la triste légende de l’humanité, des cités nombreuses et l’Océan grondant au bout. De là je suis rentré dans l’intérieur des terres, au pays des grands bois où les bruits d’une vaste étendue et continus abondent aussi. J’ai pris des fatigues que je regretterai longtemps et vivement, à traverser les grandes campagnes, à monter d’horizon en horizon, jouissant de l’espace et gagnant plusieurs fois le jour ces impressions qui s’élèvent de tous les points des étendues de pays nouvelles et s’abattent par volées sur le voyageur. Le courant des voyages est bien doux... Oh! qui m’exposera sur ce Nil?...
The Green Notebook: 1835
p. 232October 13, 1835
I have traveled. I do not know what movement of my destiny carried me along the banks of a river as far as the sea. Along that river I saw plains where nature is powerful and gay, royal and ancient dwellings marked by memories which hold their place in humanity’s sad legend, many cities, and the Ocean roaring at the end. From there I returned inland, to the country of great woods where continuous sounds of vast extent also abound. I endured fatigues I shall miss keenly and for a long time, crossing the great countryside, climbing from horizon to horizon, enjoying space and gaining several times a day those impressions which rise from every point of newly encountered expanses of land and fall in flocks upon the traveler. The current of journeys is very sweet... Oh! Who will set me adrift upon this Nile?...
Socrates
Reading The Green Notebook · 1835 · October 13, 1835
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.