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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1814

June […]0.

That exquisite food in which all sorts of [flavors] were united and which changed, to suit its consumers’ taste, into the food each of them liked best. They called it “I know not what” [or] “what is it, then?” (Man) [Manna.]

June […]1.

Why, if humility does not accompany devotion, the latter inevitably becomes pride.

Of “I know not what,” or of the indeterminate that molds itself to each [mind], to each taste.

June 12.

Today one fears austerity of morals and opinions in the prince more than one would fear rapacity, cruelty, tyranny in him.

June 18.

Of puffy style. Puffy style bulges into pockets everywhere. Thoughts in it are loosely attached to the subject, and words to thoughts. Between all these there is air, emptiness or too much space. The epithet puffy, applied to style, is one of the boldest but most fitting metaphors ever ventured. Accordingly everyone understands it and no one is astonished by it.

Swollen style is something else. It has more substance than the other. It is fuller. But its fullness is misshapen or at least excessive. It is too bulky or too fat or even too large.

June 19.

... unite innocence and repentance, so guilty do they believe themselves at the mere thought and almost at the mere mention of what is evil. They repent for the guilty.

As a snake is only “a living rope,” these little white butterflies are evidently only “animated dust.” That very thing is visible to the eyes, which perceive nothing liquid in them; everything in them is dry and silky.

Animated and organized. Man can organize, for example, instruments, an automaton. But he can animate nothing.

“This pious atheism (that is what one can call it) greatly pleased Bonaparte.” (See today’s newspaper.)

What in noise is sound?

Vaucanson’s automaton digested, so it has been said; but it did not nourish itself. Abbé Mical’s beasts uttered words they did not understand. The organ knows nothing of the sounds it produces. God alone gives life.

T197.The nominal opening, all flavors, changing food and two quoted names remain. The first-person wording inside I know not what is retained. Man stays as the printed parenthetic form; Manna translates the source’s separate bracketed gloss rather than adding a translator gloss to Joubert’s text. No scriptural locus is claimed here. [Flavors] and [or] contextually interpret saveurs and ou from […]aveurs and […]u, without restoring French letters. The separate [Manna.] renders Beaunier’s printed [La manne.] with the ordinary English omission of the French article; this bracket has a different provenance from the damaged-word brackets. The source’s masculine réunis before the feminine toutes les sortes remains unchanged in French; English has no corresponding agreement ending. The surviving day ending in 0 is not completed.

T504.Only terminal 0 is complete; thin vertical remnants before it do not certify the preceding digit. Before aveurs the initial s is incomplete, and only final u survives at the later conjunction. Those source gaps remain without supplying saveurs or ou. The q in que retains its complete bowl/descender despite nearby margin noise and is qualified rather than erased. The source has masculine réunis before feminine toutes les sortes; no agreement repair is made. Both quoted names, the separate roman (Man), and the literal source-editor [La manne.] remain in the paragraph. Scais retains c.

T198.The Why opening and final period preserve the source formulation without changing it to a direct question or adding a main clause. The latter refers to devotion. Inevitably is retained. The surviving day ending in 1 is not completed.

T505.The final 1 is identifiable, while the first digit’s broken stem and projections do not certify a full numeral. Celle ci remains spaced. The initial Pourquoi clause ends with a period, not a supplied question mark. Devient has an abraded but identifiable initial d ascender/bowl; no extra gap is inferred. The conditional negative remains intact.

T199.The nominal opening, first-person quotation, molding image and repeated each remain. The indeterminate is not assigned a hidden object or named aesthetic theory. [Mind] contextually interprets esprit from […]sprit without restoring the initial e. English adds a comma after the first quotation to articulate the alternative, with American placement inside the closing quotation mark.

T506.The nominal fragment repeats à chaque and retains literal scais. At the wrapped opening before sprit only incomplete horizontal/curved e-like components survive; the missing e is not restored. The detached right-edge mark after chaque does not establish extra punctuation.

T200.The present fear/conditional would fear and comparative scope remain. Morals and opinions stay distinct; the prince is not assigned a personal identity. The French comparative ne is expletive here and does not add a negative to the English comparison.

T507.The complete day and present/conditional contrast remain. The printed comparative ne is retained without a grammatical emendation or added pas. The repeated articles and three named alternatives remain. Prince is complete; adjacent left-margin strokes do not certify an extra word.

T201.Puffy renders boursoufflé as a physical metaphor, kept distinct from swollen in the next paragraph. Bulges into pockets preserves fait poche as bagging or pouching, rather than making a literal pocket. Only the later metalinguistic puffy corresponds to the source’s italic epithet. The repeated relations among thoughts, subject and words, and boldest/fitting contrast remain. The Académie dictionary of 1798 records boursouflé figuratively of style and poches for the large false folds of badly cut clothes. These support the physical image; the distinction from swollen is developed by Joubert’s own next paragraph. Only the third boursoufflé and its later English counterpart puffy are italic, with the comma outside the italic span. The French historical spellings vuide and hazardées remain unchanged.

T508.Both source paragraphs stay within the same unit. Only the metalinguistic third boursoufflé is italic, selected by literal occurrence 3; its following comma is roman. Its wrapped initial s is identifiable despite thin detached margin marks. Vuide retains ui and hazardées retains z. The source has peu, the paired superlatives, negative personne ne and all three final degrees/alternatives. The complete date, a after intact Il y, and later Il/excessive openings retain identifiable letters rather than inferred gaps.

T202.Swollen keeps enflé distinct from boursoufflé. Substance gives consistance its contrast with the preceding air and emptiness. Fuller/fullness, at least and the three successive dimensions remain. The second paragraph is not merged with the first.

T203.The opening ellipsis and missing subject remain. The degree relation, repeated mere, almost and thought/mention distinction remain. They are not identified; for the guilty is left as the source’s relational phrase. The paragraph continues onto 788 without an invented break. Unite continues the source’s finite third-person plural allient under its opening ellipsis; it is not an imperative. No extra English subject is supplied, preserving the elliptical opening.

T509.The opening ellipsis is printed, not a newly marked reproduction loss; the finite plural remains without a supplied subject. The one paragraph continues for two lines on page 788. Both seule phrases, presque, the repeated guilt relation and final pour remain. The right-edge Ils retains identifiable I/l/s structures with abrasion; detached traces do not establish another mark or word. The complete date remains.

T205.Both quoted metaphors, the repeated only, evidently and dry/silky contrast remain. Animated retains the animation image rather than making an independent biological claim. Them refers contextually to the butterflies; nothing liquid is not softened. The English semicolon follows the source before everything. The first quotation’s comma moves inside its closing quotation mark under American style; the second quoted period is already inside in French.

T510.Both restrictive ne…que clauses and both bounded quotations remain. In the French source, the second quotation includes its period; the first closes before the comma. Apperçoivent retains pp. The right-edge papil-, Cela and tout have identifiable complete letter structures despite adjoining vertical reproduction marks; no additional word is inferred. The dry/silky contrast and intact negative rien remain.

T206.The nominal opening, paired technical words and contrasting capacities remain. Animate concerns giving life here, not making an image move; organize retains Joubert’s structural comparison without substituting a modern biological definition. English keeps the source order of for example before the objects and adds a comma after it for readability; French retains no comma after exemple.

T511.The opening pair remains a nominal fragment, followed by the contrast between organizing and animating. Instrumens retains its ending. The French source has no comma after exemple, and the final negative remains intact.

T207.The quoted paradox, internal parenthesis and past judgment remain attributed as printed. Only See translates italic Latin Vide; today’s newspaper is an unresolved reference, not a new date or a supplied newspaper title.

T512.The whole statement including its internal parenthesis and period remains within the quotation; the following journal reference is outside. Only Vide is italic. Journal du jour remains an unresolved reference and is not converted into a publication identity or a new date. Bonaparte and the past plaisoit remain literal.

T208.Sound and noise remain distinct in the unanswered question. Sound leaves open the tonal or musical sense of son; no answer or technical definition is added.

T513.The one question remains complete; son is retained literally, with no added explanation of the sound/noise distinction.

T209.The qualification so it has been said, digestion/nourishment distinction and organ’s lack of knowledge remain. Beasts follows the actual printed bêtes, independently confirmed in the original-resolution image from its enclosed b bowl, rather than substituting heads from a historical account. Vaucanson and Mical remain unexpanded; no demonstration or biographical identification is supplied. God alone gives life remains Joubert’s conclusion.

T514.An immediate original-resolution recheck corrects the earlier transcription têtes to the printed bêtes: the first b has a tall ascender and enclosed lower bowl, distinct from the following t. The senior editor independently read the same native glyphs. Vaucanson and Mical remain unexpanded. The reported-claim a-t-on dit, both imperfect negatives, feminine elles and present organ/divine predicates remain. The final seul restriction is not weakened; no historical demonstration is inserted.