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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1821

October 22.

What is the eruption of a volcano? “A little noise and smoke.” And Buffon himself said it, Buffon, that great admirer [of] force, of power and of physical immensities, who attributed to matter, or rather to its phenomena, consistencies [they] do not have... Let us also say...

Let us also say: the most terrible wind is only the current of a [little] air; a flood, only a spilling [of a] little water; a tempest, only a conflict of a few currents; the conflagration of the world, [only] the explosion, the crackling, the gleam of a grain of gunpowder at a candle.

October 8.

Spirit. The spirit of things.

If it is not what touches us, at least it is what reaches [us]. — (A sheath open at its end — and letting the point [through].)

It is what feeds us, quenches our thirst... So much [are] we ourselves spirit.

The pig itself lives on essences.

Spirit alone is vital. But merely vital spirit has a life that it communicates and does not feel. To feel it, an organized being is needed. To enjoy it, a soul is needed; and a spiritual, intelligent soul.

Marble is composed of grains of mud or sand, and iron composed of ashes joined by an impalpable gum that is itself a seepage of one knows not — or of some one knows not what.

The religion that prays for the dead makes remembrance a duty.

Freedom is a tyrant governed by his own whims.

One must be profound in clear terms, not in obscure terms. There are authors and philosophers who are profoundly empty and ponderously frivolous. (Condillac, etc.)

October 28.

The tomb... door... — Of which our tomb is the door.

The true circle; different points. A circle of points. — Compass.

T82.The quotation, himself, repeated Buffon, force/power distinction, plural immensities/consistencies and corrective or-rather remain. Consistencies contextually preserves the assertion of substance or stability; no modern scientific claim or external authentication of the quotation is added. The damaged d[…] before fumée has no independent English word in noise and smoke; smoke itself is intact. [Of] renders the second d[…], before la force. [They] contextually interprets il[…] in qu’il[…] n’ont pas; the intact plural verb supports that reading but does not restore the missing letter in French. The quoted period already precedes the French closing guillemet and stays inside the English closing mark. English integrates et qui as the relative who and supplies the commas enclosing or rather to its phenomena. Attribuoit is complete across its wrap. Both printed ellipses and the repeated Let us also say remain. October 22 governs both paragraphs.

T143.The complete October 22 date follows October 24 and governs two paragraphs. The two d endings, qu’il, pe and qu remain incomplete at the right edge; the tall l in qu’il is abraded but identifiable. No subject/number is silently completed. The complete attri-/buoit and chan-/delle letters are joined without lexical loss markers merely for their missing wrap hyphens. Tempête retains identifiable letter contours, including its worn final e, but the following damaged edge does not certify punctuation. Its marker is a suspected punctuation loss with uncertain presence/extent, not a certified missing word. Printed [d’un] is a roman editorial supplement, separate from current gaps. The quoted smoke fragment visibly has its period before the closing guillemet. Repeated Buffon and Disons aussi, both printed ellipses, restrictive constructions and the three final effects remain. Literal courans retains its spelling.

T83.All four restrictive only formulations, the scale terms little/few/grain and the last three effects remain. [Little] contextually renders pe[…]. The final [only] renders damaged qu[…] in the elliptical restrictive formulation; it is not a certified completion of French. The separate printed [d’un] becomes [of a], distinct from a reproduction loss. Tempête is complete; its following marker denotes possible punctuation loss of uncertain presence and extent, so the English comma after tempest is supplied without inventing a word. Chandelle is complete across its wrap and requires no lexical bracket. French retains courans. The earlier universe and this world remain different words.

T84.Both nominal sentences and repeated spirit remain; no equation with mind, soul or matter is supplied.

T144.The complete October 8 date follows October 22 and governs five paragraphs: two on 908 and three on 909. The right ends retain nou and passe. At the incoming som-/mes wrap, the left part of the m is interrupted: only es is complete after it, so som[…]es remains without supplying the missing arch/stem. The incoming emphatic Tant sentence ends with a clear period, not an exclamation mark, in both color 909/native 441. The earlier three points are printed ellipsis. The complete C’est, communique and Pour starts are abraded but identifiable in color; no extra prefix is recovered. The two upper i-components in jouïr are visible in the original color 909/native 441 views and retained with reproduction qualification. Both finite restrictions, spirit/life/soul distinctions, semicolon and final adjective pair remain. All five paragraphs are roman.

T85.The conditional, at least, distinct touching/reaching and complete sheath parenthesis remain. Only the second [us], after reaches, interprets damaged nou[…]; the earlier us represents intact nous. [Through] is the broad contextual counterpart of passe[…] in letting the point through, while letting represents intact laisse. The English brackets do not certify the lost endings or imply that the whole French passage is missing. The point is not identified with a particular weapon or doctrine.

T86.The two actions, printed ellipsis and ourselves remain. [Are] contextually renders som[…]es, whose internal damaged letter is not silently supplied in French. The emphatic sentence ends with the actual source period, replacing the preliminary English exclamation mark. Thirst is supplied by English quenches our thirst for désaltère. This is the first of three paragraphs on 909 continuing the five-paragraph owner begun on 908; the complete October 8 date governs the whole owner, without reordering it before October 22.

T87.Itself preserves the emphasis of lui-même without substituting an unstated contrast. Lives on retains the nutritive sense; essences remains plural.

T88.Only/merely, possessing/communicating/not-feeling life and the two requirements remain distinct. Organized retains the bodily or organic technical term without turning it into socially organized. The repeated soul, semicolon and final two adjectives remain. French jouïr retains its qualified paired upper i marks. This final paragraph remains roman within the five-paragraph October 8 owner; no new loss is inferred at its complete line starts.

T89.Both materials, mud/sand alternative, plural ashes and impalpable gum remain. The two italic word-mentions one knows not / one knows not what deliberately preserve the first incomplete phrase and the second expanded one; no missing substance is supplied. The final period belongs to the second italic span, while the intervening dash and or of some remain roman. The second material clause retains the source’s omission of a repeated is. The material account is the source’s, not a modern chemical correction.

T145.In the French source, the first incomplete on ne scait and second expanded on ne scait quoi. are separately italic; the intervening dash and ou de quelque are roman. The final period belongs to the second italic span. Native 441 crop clips that terminal mark, while the complete color crop includes it. Both composé forms and the mud/sand alternative remain literal. The second material clause has no repeated est. Foreground initial composé/est remain identifiable despite left ghosting; no reproduction loss is inferred.

T90.The restrictive relative clause and making remembrance a duty remain. The French literally prints Le religion. English the has no gender and cannot reproduce that mismatch; the French is not silently corrected.

T146.The article visibly reads Le, with e, in the complete original-size color crop and native 441; it is not silently corrected to La. The definite article, relative clause, plural morts and terminal period remain. All text is roman.

T91.The paradox and passive governed remain. His own takes ses with the personified tyrant; whims is not replaced by a specific political program.

T147.The complete passive relative clause and possessive remain, with literal feminine liberté and masculine tyran. The foreground starts and final period are identifiable; no implied political referent is supplied. All text is roman.

T92.One must renders the necessity construction il faut. Repeated terms, profound/profoundly and the paradoxical weight of frivolity remain. English not in obscure terms idiomatically renders the French coordination et non pas en termes obscurs without a separate and. Literal autheurs and vuides remain in French. Both sentences and the parenthetic Condillac example form one paragraph; the example is not expanded into a new historical assertion.

T93.Both printed three-point ellipses, dash, repeated tomb/door and dependent Of-which fragment remain without an invented antecedent. These ellipses are source punctuation, not reproduction losses. The complete October 28 date governs this paragraph and the following separate circle/compass paragraph.

T149.The complete 28 is supported by the original-size color crop; the native date crops clip first its upper boundary and then part of the leftmost 2, so they are not claimed as complete independent digit certification. No other digit is supplied. The two separately indented nominal paragraphs share this date. Printed three-point ellipses, dependent Dont fragment, semicolon, repeated circles/points, dash and terminal periods remain; no connection or missing predicate is supplied. All body text is roman.

T94.The nominal fragments, repeated circle/points and final compass remain distinct, with no connection to the preceding tomb fragment supplied.