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 2295 of 3781
[ON KANT.] · Entry 2295
French
p. 4589La balance dramatique et l’entente des contrepoids. C’est là une très bonne idée de La Harpe (tout LaHarpe qu’il est) et elle est capitale. (Vid. page 378, Cours etc. tom. IX.) Et à la page 99, même volume, et à propos du « talent d’embrasser puissamment un sujet », ce talent (dit-il) « consiste surtout dans l’art de contrebalancer par des forces à peu près égales les principaux moyens de l’action, en sorte que l’équilibre subsiste jusqu’à ce que le cours des événemens fasse un poids qui entraîne et précipite le dénouement ». Cela est très bien vu, très bien dit. Mais observez qu’il doit se trouver dans tout ouvrage bien fait un contrepoids, un balancement, un équilibre. Car tout ouvrage doit avoir un commencement, un milieu et une fin c’est à dire un point d’équilibre et deux bouts et lorsqu’une matière, quelle qu’elle soit, est puissamment traitée, elle se trouve insensiblement avoir une disposition qui produit d’une manière sensible l’arrangement dont nous parlons.
Ce La Harpe dit aussi très bien ailleurs que « les défauts naissent des défauts » dans nos compositions littéraires « comme les beautés des beautés ».
[La Harpe?] Cet élégant petit esprit.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [ON KANT.]
p. 4590The dramatic balance and skill in arranging counterweights. That is a very good idea of La Harpe’s (LaHarpe though he is), and it is fundamental. (See page 378, Cours etc., vol. IX.) And on page 99 of the same volume, concerning the “talent for powerfully embracing a subject,” this talent (he says) “consists above all in the art of counterbalancing, with nearly equal forces, the principal means of the action, so that equilibrium lasts until the course of events makes a weight that carries away and precipitates the denouement.” That is very well seen, very well said. But observe that in every well-made work there must be a counterweight, a balancing, an equilibrium. For every work must have a beginning, a middle, and an end, that is, a point of equilibrium and two ends, and when any matter, whatever it may be, is powerfully treated, it is imperceptibly found to have a disposition that perceptibly produces the arrangement of which we speak.
This La Harpe also says very well elsewhere that “defects are born of defects” in our literary compositions “as beauties are born of beauties.”
[La Harpe?] This elegant little mind.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [ON KANT.] · Entry 2295
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.