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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1810

February 3.

—self-evident, as much as a thing of this kind can be; for in morals there is no self-evidence of sight, but self-evidence of touch.

February 15.

All beautiful poetry is like Homer’s, and all beautiful philosophy resembles Plato’s.

Homer. His fable was invented before him, but he had a head capable of receiving it. Perhaps people sang what he sings, but he has sung it better.

February 16.

They said “that one draws religion from sacred books, mythology from fables, knowledge of nature from philosophy, facts from history, and morality from the world, which is its great book... Let this be without encroaching from one subject on another; for if you come to confuse them, you make a jumble... With all the more reason, one must not insert great, cardinal, essential truths in a novel... There one reads the most incontestable things like those farthest removed from common sense.” Indeed, since the adventures in it are feigned, the maxims may appear feigned too; and what is serious, what is grave must seem to be placed there only for amusement. (Vid. Critique du Télémaque.)

February 17.

They also said that “prose is the garment of truth” and for that reason does not suit long and serious fiction; “that it is the language of society,” a civil language, a true language, and consequently opposed to poetic language; so they banished from it “expressions too figurative” and “excessive” or too energetic; “that, being made only to enlighten the mind and persuade common sense, it can tolerate nothing that flatters the ear and tickles the imagination.” Hence they regarded the style of Télémaque “as verified prose... like that which had been shamefully driven out forty years before...” And even the morals found in it seemed to them “a painted dish,” a substance without reality full of an imaginary juice. Etc.

February 18.

They added that “verse is the style of fiction,” that “this prose was a courtesan... a flux of words...” etc. that could please only a people who “no longer loved the concise style” that had made the glory of its great writers and was properly the French style par excellence.

February 19.

And the morals of that time proved no less severe than its […]térature. “... to what purpose (they said) and for what chimerical des[…]in has he needlessly made himself the historian of fable? What a strange […]anie to teach paganism expressly to form a chré[…]enne soul! How, in composing so profane a work, preserve the […]té of God acting immediately on the faculties of the soul!” And […]ette dazzling politics with which the book is filled did not […]oint seduce them. “Would to heaven... (they said)... but are peoples capa[…]les of behaving as children and being governed by a father?” […]t the one who spoke thus... So true is it that even fools had […]lors more wisdom than even the sages have today, because […]u’ils shared in the opinions of their age, just as we parti[…]ipons in the opinions of ours, which is senseless.

February […]2.

The truths it contains making it true enough, it follows […]ue...

February […]3.

Anger, which purges resentment.

February […]5.

I have little liking for prudence if it is not moral. Mere circumspection harms affairs in councils and benefits only the one who possesses it. In execution, circumspection is better; in deliberations, it is frankness or sincerity. It opens new paths […]ux inquiry, it walks the mind over more points, it mul[…]iplie the units in the quantity of expedients submitted to délibé[…]ations. Finally it helps toward favorable results; for to choose well, it is better to choose among a thousand than between two or three.

March 1.

Theaters ought to entertain nobly, but ought only to entertain. To wish to make them a school of morals is to corrupt both morals and art at once. A heroic and poetic morality may have its use there, and certainly its charm. But everyday morality, if one teaches it on these boards, acquires from them I know not what of the comic or tragic that turns it into an actor’s verbiage. To display this morality in theaters is to banish it from life. For what man of taste, what honorable man wishes to speak like an actor and act according to the rules of a play?

T34.The dash and absent subject remain. Self-evident and self-evidence preserve the related adjective and noun, without reducing évidence to evidence offered in support of an argument. Touch renders tact in its opposition to sight; the 1798 Académie also records fine or sure judgment in matters of taste. The bodily image remains without restricting it to social tact or identifying a philosophical system.

T35.The repeated all beautiful remains, with is like and resembles reflecting the two related French predicates. Poetry and philosophy retain their respective comparisons without identifying particular works.

T128.Two physical paragraphs remain. Poësie has a compressed diaeresis, and Peut être is unhyphenated. Thin horizontal and detached traces above chante resemble the neighboring reproduction artifacts; no typographic accent is certified over its a. The tense changes are retained.

T36.Head preserves tête rather than replacing the bodily image with genius. The fable’s prior invention, his capacity to receive it, and his better singing remain distinct. The past people sang contrasts with the present he sings and perfect he has sung; Perhaps retains the uncertainty. No additional account of Homeric authorship is supplied.

T37.The quotation includes the opening that and ends after common sense; Indeed begins Joubert’s following commentary. Encroaching renders anticiper in the context of confusing subjects; the 1798 Académie attests the encroachment sense, not this exact de...à construction. The five domains remain distinct. Feigned recurs for adventures and maxims. Vid. retains the abbreviated Latin direction, meaning see; the printed Critique du Télémaque reference remains without an assigned author or edition. Bounded searches did not establish the exact external passage.

T129.The single long paragraph retains the quotation’s closing mark after bon sens, the following commentary and parenthetic abbreviated reference. Ne doit on remains without an inserted hyphen. The i of faites has a small filled dot with adjacent thin vertical artifacts; no circumflex is certified. A plus forte has no certified printed capital accent.

T38.The several separate quotation spans and their intervening reported prose remain. Garment, flatters the ear, tickles the imagination, painted dish, and imaginary juice retain their images. The source is provisionally read as vérifiée, verified; no s is securely visible to establish versifiée, versified. Verified prose therefore retains the anomalous wording rather than silently repairing the quotation. The critic’s identity and the exact external source remain unestablished.

T130.Banissoient has one n in the enlarged facsimile. The enlarged facsimile of prose vérifiée supports the sequence vérifiée; no s is certifiable between r and i. The nonstandard contextual reading is retained with a glyph qualification rather than silently substituting versifiée. Poëtique retains a diaeresis. Quotation boundaries, ellipses and final Etc. remain.

T39.Courtesan and flux of words retain the two disparaging images, followed by the printed etc. The relative chain remains, with only a people and no longer loved preserving the two restrictions. Verse renders the generic plural vers. Par excellence remains in its ordinary English use. The reported voice is not assigned a name.

T131.Ajoutaient and était retain their printed modern-looking endings alongside pouvoit, avoit and étoit. Courtisanne has a doubled n in the enlarged facsimile. The relative-clause chain and the different quotation boundaries remain.

T40.One paragraph crosses onto page 689. The French residues […]térature, des[…]in, […]anie, chré[…]enne, […]té, […]ette, […]oint, capa[…]les, […]t, […]lors, […]u’ils, and parti[…]ipons remain; their contextual possible completions are confined to the source qualification. No specific divine faculty is supplied at […]té. The second quotation ends after father; the following the one who spoke thus remains unfinished. The change from reported they to this singular person is not harmonized. Even fools and even the sages retain the paradox, and the final which is senseless refers to our age. Not translates the intact ne in ne les séduisoit; the residue […]oint is retained separately and is not treated as recovered point.

T41.Truths and true retain their shared root, with enough preserving assés. The feminine elle and la become it without an invented referent. The participial opening leads to an inference that remains unfinished. The French […]ue remains, with que, that, a possible completion.

T133.Only final 2 is secure in the damaged date. The final line certifies ue after the loss; que is a contextual completion only. The inference and feminine pronouns remain unfinished and unexpanded.

T42.Purges keeps the force of purge rather than turning the fragment into advice to express anger. The nominal relative formulation and the distinction between anger and resentment remain.

T134.Only final 3 is secure in the damaged date. The nominal relative formulation remains without a supplied main clause.

T43.Prudence remains distinct from mere circumspection. The former is qualified by if it is not moral; circumspection is better in execution, frankness or sincerity in deliberation. The following It refers to frankness or sincerity, not circumspection. Walks the mind retains the motion in promène. The units and quantity image is preserved, and expedients means available means, without an added implication of dishonesty. The residues […]ux, mul[…]iplie, and délibé[…]ations remain French; aux, multiplie, and délibérations are possible completions. A thousand contrasts with two or three without an invented object of choice.

T135.Only final 5 is secure in the date. The missing initials before ux, iplie and ations remain explicit; aux, multiplie and délibérations are contextual completions only. In the other wrapped circonspection and first délibérations, and initial Dans and il, partial letter strokes support qualified complete readings. Voyes and expédiens retain their printed spellings.

T44.The repeated entertain retains the restriction ought only to entertain. Everyday morality renders morale usuelle in contrast to heroic and poetic morality. These boards keeps the theatrical image of tréteaux. I know not what preserves the speaker’s indefinite formulation; actor’s verbiage remains disparaging without supplying a particular play. Man of taste and honorable man retain the paired descriptions, and display and banish preserve the contrast between theater and life.

T136.The date’s er is raised. Scais has no certified cedilla in the enlarged facsimile; poëtique retains its diaeresis. Several opening strokes at the left edge are abraded but remain identifiable in divert-/tir, utilité, l’enseigne, ou, goût and d’après; these complete readings remain qualified. The restriction ne...que and both rhetorical domains remain. No acute is certified over the capital E of Etaler.