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[On Voltaire.] · Entry 3211

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French Page · Branch 3211 of 3781

[On Voltaire.] · Entry 3211

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 6421

[…] novembre.

Des échos de plaisirs, des échos de douleurs.

Comme dans les échos du son, par une erreur de notre oreille, on est souvent tenté de placer son point de départ au point même où il aboutit. Parce qu’en ce cas, par votre position, son reflux est plus sensible et plus bruyant pour nous que son flux. Le vent qui le rapporte, etc.

C’est l’air qui rapporte le son, l’air adossé, l’air comprimé et rendu […]rt par quelque cavité. Ni la pierre ni la... ne nous réfléchissent la voix; mais l’air, qu’elles rendent courbé, agloméré, ou épaissi, et immobile ainsi (et uni, égal, poli, pour ainsi dire). De l’air concave et de l’air convexe, et que tout écho est concave. Ce miroir de la voix, imago vocis.

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

p. 6422

November […].

Echoes of pleasures, echoes of pains.

As in echoes of sound, through an error of our ear, one is often tempted to place its point of departure at the very point where it arrives. Because in that case, owing to your position, its backflow is more perceptible and noisier to us than its flow. The wind that brings it back, etc.

It is the air that brings back the sound, air backed against something, air compressed and rendered […]rt by some hollow. Neither the stone nor the... reflects the voice back to us; but the air, which they make curved, gathered together, or thickened, and thus motionless (and smooth, even, polished, so to speak). On concave air and convex air, and how every echo is concave. This mirror of the voice, imago vocis.

T309.The day numeral is lost at the left margin. In paragraph 2, the damaged line openings est, aboutit, sensible and the end of rapporte are restored from their visible remnants and context. The alternation notre / votre / nous is printed and retained. In paragraph 3, the word after rendu has only its final rt securely visible at the fold. Fort is plausible, but the lost beginning is not supplied. Damaged openings of voix, immobile and et are restored contextually; the source’s la... and unfinished De l’air construction remain.

T38.The source’s flux and reflux remain related terms, and its shifts from our to your and back to us remain. No acoustic correction is inserted into Joubert’s explanation.

T39.Only the French ending rt is secure in the damaged adjective; fort, strong, is possible but not adopted. The untranslated residue stays visible in both languages. Adossé gives the air a support or backing. The Latin imago vocis means image of the voice; it is retained beside Joubert’s mirror image.

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.