Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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French Page · Branch 864 of 3781
YEAR 1797 · Entry 864
French
p. 172729 juillet au soir.
Ouverture, exorde, prélude. — Elles servent à l’orateur, au poëte, au musicien à disposer leur propre esprit à mieux produire leur ouvrage. Elles servent aux écoutans et aux lecteurs à préparer leur attention. Il doit y régner je ne sais quelle lenteur et un caractère qui participe du silence qui précède et du bruit qui doit suivre. Il doit y régner aussi de l’éclat, de la variété, de l’art, parce que l’artiste y doit faire montre de ses ressources et donner des gages de sa capacité. Une certaine modestie y sied bien cependant parce que c’est la disposition naturelle où se trouve un homme dont les forces s’éveillent, pour ainsi dire, entrent en jeu l’une après l’autre et n’existent pas à la fois.
Quand l’esprit a pris tout son vol et l’attention toute sa stabilité, l’opération qui doit se faire commence. Alors ce qu’on vouloit dire se dit. Le discoureur entre en matière.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1797
p. 1728July 29 in the evening.
Overture, exordium, prelude.—They help the orator, the poet, the musician dispose their own minds to produce their work better. They help listeners and readers prepare their attention. Some slowness I cannot define must prevail in them, and a character partaking of the silence that precedes and the noise that is to follow. Brilliance, variety, and art must also prevail in them, for the artist must display his resources and give pledges of his capacity. A certain modesty nevertheless becomes them, for this is the natural disposition of a man whose powers are awakening, so to speak, coming into play one after another and not existing all at once.
When the mind has taken its full flight and attention gained all its steadiness, the operation that is to take place begins. Then what one wished to say is said. The speaker enters upon his subject.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1797 · Entry 864
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.