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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1815

A studied elegance, it has been said; add an artificial ease or one born of practice. There has been everything in this Villemain, and in what is most felicitous in him, much practice.

Fontanes has prose that is too elegant and Chateaubriand prose too full of pathos... But how can we tell them so?

January 29.

The accumulation of thoughts wears out the file and makes the style rough; rough in meaning and to the mind’s eye, even if not in sound and to the ear.

January 31.

In the perfection of a work there is something that depends on the perfection of the instrument or of language; and in the vigor of a strong talent, something absolutely independent.

In Numa’s time, Virgil would have been only a villager playing a reed pipe. If Ronsard had been born in Caraïbe, he would have been a togan. Tupia was a priest in Otahiti.

If Fénelon had lived under Hugh Capet and had had only a plowman for a father, he would have been only a humble, pious monk or a gentle village priest. Tertullian and Jurien would have turned theirs upside down, even had they been servants. Bossuet, among all peoples, in all times and in all conditions, would have shown himself a man of great sense, of great mind, and would have become the oracle of his town, his district, his hamlet, his tribe, his neighbors, his family.

It is certain that Fénelon is gentler than gentleness itself, more moderate than moderation. This is not sincere naturalness, but affected naturalness: one senses falsity everywhere.

February 1.

Fénelon. Flexible and dry as white wax; and no less pure.

Fénelon. Grammarians kiss his faults. Had that happy kind of mind, of talent and of character which unfailingly makes one seem to everyone to possess some[thing] better than one has. Thus, despite [oneself], one attributes to Racine what belongs only to Virgil, and one always expects to find in Raphael beauties that are perhaps more often in two or three other painters than in this one.

An acquired naturalness, a learned elegance, an ease that belongs to a trained hand and a well-cut pen; finally, countless skills and merits that their literary education gave them, but with which they had not been endowed: all this fine style does more honor to their school than to their talent. Nothing belongs to them but the aptitude they had for becoming better than themselves.

T56.The opening report, imperative add, artificial/practiced alternative and repeated practice remain. Most felicitous takes heureux in the context of achieved stylistic success, not personal happiness. There has been everything retains the visibly printed a eu tout and its perfect tense, without normalizing the compressed formulation to en tout or inventing an omitted list. The unenhanced native-size crop confirms eu.

T448.The opening nominal phrase, perfect reporting clause, semicolon and imperative are retained. The original-size color crop literally reads Il y a eu tout, with no deletion, insertion or rearrangement to regularize the following construction. The repeated pratique, alternative ou and superlative plus heureux remain. All text is roman.

T57.Both excesses, the source ellipsis and closing question remain. Full of pathos renders pathétique’s emotional force rather than the modern disparaging sense of pathetic as ineffectual or contemptible. English how can we tell makes the source’s infinitive question comment le leur dire finite for readability; it does not supply a missing French subject.

T58.File is the smoothing tool, not a written record. The repeated rough retains the tactile metaphor and its contrast between meaning/mental sight and sound/hearing. Even if not makes the conditional qualification readable without denying roughness of sound in every case. And before to the ear preserves the intact source coordination. Both French rabotteux forms retain doubled t; no distinctive English spelling is imposed.

T450.The complete date 29 janvier is identifiable at original-size color level, with the 2 diagonal/foot and 9 loop/tail distinct. Both rabotteux forms visibly retain doubled t. The file-wearing and roughness images, repeated term, semicolon and conditional qualification preserve sense/sight versus sound/hearing without an added conclusion.

T59.The two something formulations, instrument/language alternative and absolute independence remain. The second clause stays elliptical; no object of independence is added beyond the contrast already established.

T451.The complete date 31 janvier is retained with recognizable curves of 3 and the stem/foot of 1. Both perfection terms, alternative instrument/langage, semicolon and contrasting vigorous talent remain. The second quelque chose formulation remains without an added finite verb. The original-size color crop shows a baseline period after indépendant, retained with its softened contour qualified.

T60.The two counterfactuals, restrictive only and separate statement about Tupia remain. Reed pipe renders chalumeau contextually, without specifying an exact instrument construction. Caraïbe, togan, Tupia and Otahiti retain their printed forms; togan’s particular historical sense is unresolved and is not silently replaced by a modern indigenous title. The last statement is translated as Joubert gives it, without an independently verified biographical claim.

T452.Two paragraphs remain one unit; the second continues across 816–817 between tous and les temps without a new paragraph or lost word. The conditional/counterfactual tense forms and all restrictive ne...que constructions remain literal, including the distinct étoit/auroit sequence for Ronsard and the inverted eussent-ils clause. In the French source, the names Caraïbe, Tupia, Otahiti, Tertullien, Jurien and Bossuët remain unmodernized; the small upper components in the diaereses retain color-reproduction qualifications. Original-size color distinctly reads togan; no cultural title or person is inferred from it. Chalumeau remains literal. All three universal settings for Bossuët, both grand terms and all six social possessive groups retain their order. The original-size incoming 817 strip supports complete les/grand/son beginnings despite margin show-through, without new gaps. The bounded independent comparison agrees with these named upper marks and incoming initials, retaining the stated contour limits.

T61.All counterfactuals, both only restrictions, the monk/priest alternative, the servants concession and all three universal circumstances remain. Monk renders the broad male religieux in context, without identifying an order. Theirs contextually refers to the preceding village; no missing noun is inserted in the body. All six oracle relations remain in order. The second paragraph continues through the opening three lines of 817.

T62.The assertion of certainty, two repeated-root comparisons and sincere/affected opposition remain. Naturalness is a manner or quality here; the English does not turn it into an independently diagnosed personal nature.

T453.The two comparative plus formulations, même and sincere/affected contrast remain literal. The first four line openings retain identifiable foreground structures despite left-margin show-through; no gap is inferred. All text is roman.

T63.The name and descriptive fragment remain separate sentences within one paragraph. Both physical qualities, the white wax and no-less comparison remain; dry is not softened to austere.

T454.The complete first-of-February date retains a full 1 and separately raised er, visible in the original-size color crop. The short nominal fragments, semicolon, et and negative comparative non moins remain. All body text is roman.

T64.The kiss remains physical, and Had preserves the subjectless continuation. Happy is contextual to a fortunate effect, not necessarily an inward mood. Some[thing] mirrors the printed quelque [chose] supplement across the single English word; [oneself] corresponds to printed [soi]. Only, always, perhaps, more often and two or three retain their limits. The Racine/Virgil and Raphael/other-painters comparisons are translated as Joubert’s judgments without added attribution.

T455.The printed [chose] and [soi] are roman editorial supplements; no new reproduction loss is marked. Avoit retains its absent explicit subject. The three de objects, comparative meilleur, restrictive n’appartient qu’à, toujours, plus souvent, peut-être and two-or-three relation remain. Raphaël has two distinct raised e components in the original-size color crop, with their softened contours qualified. The n’ap-/partient line wrap is complete and joined; the surviving ordinary left initials remain identifiable. All body text is roman.

T65.The acquired/learned qualities, trained hand and cut pen retain the distinction between education and endowment. The two comparative relations and final nothing-but restriction remain. The plural writers are not identified beyond the passage’s implicit context; becoming better than themselves is left as Joubert’s paradox.

T456.The accumulated nominal opening, repeated indefinite forms, semicolon, enfin and colon remain. The source distinguishes education’s gift from the negative earlier endowment and the school/talent comparison. The restrictive Rien...que and final comparative remain; eux mêmes is spaced without an added hyphen. All text is roman.