Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
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French Page · Branch 20 of 121
1833 · Le 24.
French
p. 39Le 24.
E... m’est arrivé tout ému, la larme à l’œil. — Qu’avez-vous? — M. Féli m’a effrayé. — Comment? — Il était assis derrière la chapelle, sous les deux pins d’Écosse; il a pris son bâton, a dessiné une tombe sur le gazon et m’a dit : « C’est là que je veux reposer; mais point de pierre tumulaire, un simple banc de gazon. Oh! que je serai bien là! » J’ai cru qu’il se sentait malade, qu’il prévoyait sa fin prochaine. Au reste, ce n’est pas la première fois qu’il est agité de pressentiments; il nous dit en partant pour Rome : « Je ne compte pas vous revoir, faites le bien que je n’ai pu faire. » Il est impatient de mourir. Ce monde est si misérable pour toute âme chrétienne, et surtout pour une âme chrétienne comme celle-là!
The Green Notebook: 1833
p. 40March 24, 1833
E... came to me deeply moved, with tears in his eyes. — What is the matter? — M. Féli frightened me. — How? — He was sitting behind the chapel, beneath the two Scots pines; he took his stick, drew a grave upon the turf, and said to me: ‘That is where I wish to rest; but no tombstone, a simple bench of turf. Oh, how comfortable I shall be there!’ I thought he felt ill, that he foresaw his approaching end. Besides, this is not the first time he has been troubled by presentiments; when leaving for Rome he said to us: ‘I do not expect to see you again; do the good I have been unable to do.’ He is impatient to die. This world is so miserable for any Christian soul, and especially for a Christian soul such as his!
Socrates
Reading The Green Notebook · 1833 · March 24, 1833
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.