Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

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The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I[Malebranche.] · Entry 3648

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French Page · Branch 3648 of 3781

[Malebranche.] · Entry 3648

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 7295

Août.

L’âme humaine a quatre maisons. Et elle habite successivement, quand la vie a son cours entier, un corps d’enfant, un corps jeune, un corps d’homme et un corps de vieillard. C’est là sa dernière station et elle est courte. Quelques-uns ont eu cependant une vieillesse plus longue que leurs autres âges.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [Malebranche.]

p. 7296

August.

The human soul has four houses. And when life runs its full course, it inhabits in succession a child’s body, a young body, a man’s body, and an old man’s body. That is its last station, and it is short. Some, however, have had an old age longer than their other ages.

S2.Source editor’s annotationSeparate leaf, dated thus: “Wlle W[…] August 1804.” Now we have already had this thought in an incomplete form. Does Joubert take it up again in August 1804? That is quite possible. But I do not know whether he is at Villeneuve in August 1804: I believe him to be in Paris. Perhaps he made a mistake in writing the number of the year? There are examples of this error on his part. Thus, in the notebooks, where the sequence of dates is not in doubt, he writes “August 5, 1803” for “August 5, 1804.”

T196.The four houses and four bodily stages remain one paragraph. Station is retained as a stage or stopping place in the soul’s course. The source gives only August for this entry, and Beaunier separately questions the year of the dated leaf; no exact date is invented.

T197.The source annotation quotes an abbreviated place form beginning Wlle W, followed by a damaged raised glyph. That loss remains […] in both languages, and its raised position is recorded in the transcription metadata. Beaunier’s proposed locations and possible mistake in the year remain his qualified editorial reasoning, including his first-person I.

T436.A raised glyph after the second W is a damaged solid shape whose letter cannot be certified independently; […] marks that loss and the abbreviation is not expanded. Its raised position is recorded here.

About This Reading Edition

Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.

Historical Text and Translation

The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume I presents the entries on printed pages 32–475. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.

Rights

The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.