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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Facing Pages · Branch 1136 of 3781
YEAR 1798 · Entry 1136
French
p. 2271Aspect d’un paysage par un temps exempt de brouillard. Il se détache du fonds de la scène des lignes, des points et des angles qui offrent à l’esprit la charpante de ce qui s’étend devant lui. C’est l’objet même en évidé. C’est un tableau en raccourci. L’esprit l’adopte et le retient; il le garde et le reproduit lorsqu’il le faut, lorsqu’il lui plaît.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1798
p. 2272Appearance of a landscape in weather free of mist. Lines, points, and angles stand out from the background of the scene, offering the mind the framework of what stretches before it. It is the object itself hollowed out. It is a picture in abridgment. The mind adopts and retains it; it keeps it and reproduces it when necessary, when it pleases.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1798 · Entry 1136
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.