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Classical metamorphoses

pêcheur de la fable; deviendrai-je un dieu; nature végétale; mortels devenus immobiles

Two unnamed ancient transformations, identified by the supplied notes as Glaucus and Philemon with Baucis, give unlike forms to Guérin’s desire for altered existence.

From the book

The Green Notebook

Maurice de Guérin · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordTwo unnamed ancient transformations, identified by the supplied notes as Glaucus and Philemon with Baucis, give unlike forms to Guérin’s desire for altered existence.
  • In GuérinThe fisherman appears in a question asked during a violent inward crisis.
  • In this editionTranslator note 15 identifies Glaucus through Ovid, Metamorphoses XIII 919–965.
  • A reading distinctionThe names are explanatory identifications from the supplied apparatus.

Meaning

Two unnamed ancient transformations, identified by the supplied notes as Glaucus and Philemon with Baucis, give unlike forms to Guérin’s desire for altered existence.

Use in the book

The fisherman appears in a question asked during a violent inward crisis. Nature, humanity, knowledge, and the whole world seem to assault the isolated soul like waves striking a rock. If he sinks, Guérin wonders, might he find an enchanted palace or become a god like the fisherman of fable? The transformation is neither claimed nor calmly expected: it keeps a possibility of marvel inside the threatened loss of self. The later tree metamorphosis answers a different wish. Mortals rewarded by the gods are enclosed in living wood, their worn bodies replaced by a strong and silent life. Their only visible movement survives at the tips of branches. Guérin turns this account into a model for the sage who draws on chosen nourishment, becomes firmly rooted, and answers the world in rare, deep sounds. The two allusions must not be merged into a simple doctrine of becoming nature. One tests the unknown outcome of being overwhelmed; the other constructs a desired discipline of shelter, strength, and limited expression.

Places to read

  1. 28 September 1834 · ¶1The question about a fisherman becoming divine appears within the image of the soul assaulted by an unlimited sea.
  2. 14 May 1835 · ¶1The transformation into trees becomes an extended analogy for a slowly acquired philosophical calm.

Translation in this edition

Translator note 15 identifies Glaucus through Ovid, Metamorphoses XIII 919–965. Note 21 identifies Philemon and Baucis through VIII 704–720. Guérin does not name either myth in the running text.

Source note

1864 Journal, September 28, 1834, and May 14, 1835; translator notes 15 and translator’s note 21. The names are explanatory identifications from the supplied apparatus.