Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 76 of 121
1834 · May 1, 1834
French
p. 151Le 1er mai.
Toujours à charge, toujours contraint d’emprunter mon existence. Les lèvres de l’enfant qui vient de naître ont assez d’énergie pour sucer la mamelle, et moi, au plus fort de la jeunesse, je n’ai pas assez de vigueur pour gagner ma subsistance, pour pomper un peu de vie.
The Green Notebook: 1834
p. 152May 1, 1834
Always a burden, always compelled to borrow my existence. A newborn child’s lips have strength enough to suck the breast, and I, in the full vigor of youth, have not enough strength to earn my subsistence, to draw in a little life.
Socrates
Reading The Green Notebook · 1834 · May 1, 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.