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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English Page · Branch 110 of 3781
YEAR 1786. · Entry 110
French
p. 219« J’ai demandé à plusieurs musiciens (dit l’abbé Dubos) s’il seroit bien difficile d’inventer des caractères avec lesquels on pût écrire en notes la déclamation en usage sur notre théâtre. Ils m’ont répondu que la chose étoit possible et même qu’on pouvoit écrire la déclamation en notes en se servant de la gamme de notre musique pourvu qu’on ne donnât aux notes que la moitié de l’intonation ordinaire. Par exemple, les notes qui ont un semi-ton d’intonation en montant n’auroient qu’un quart de ton d’intonation dans la déclamation... » etc...
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1786.
p. 220No individual date printed
“I asked several musicians,” says the Abbé Dubos, “whether it would be very difficult to invent characters with which the declamation used in our theater could be written in notes. They answered that it was possible, and even that declamation could be written in notes using the scale of our music, provided that the notes were given only half the ordinary interval. For example, notes that rise by a semitone would have only a quarter-tone interval in declamation...” etc...
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1786. · Entry 110
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.