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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

UNDATED

There are, not in the notebooks but among [Joubert’s] bundles of papers, a certain number of undated writings. Most often [I] have been able, with some confidence, to discover or conjecture their date; and I have put them in their place, indicating, moreover, that I was making a hypothesis. I gather here what has resisted my search and what I leave undated. It will be observed that, since the date of these various pieces cannot be guessed, it is also of little importance, even if the thoughts have interest in themselves.

UNDATED

1 (Bundle 17)

What is it to define? It is to describe, to draw with words what the mind alone perceives; it is to give extremities to what has none for the eye; it is to paint what cannot be seen; it is to circumscribe in a space that has no reality an object that has no body. And what is it to define well? It is to represent clearly the idea that all minds form within themselves and despite themselves of the object one wishes to speak of, when they think of it at random.

2 (id.)

Great ties always form between peoples who wage long wars against one another. War is a kind of commerce that in some way binds the very people it disunites.

3 (Bundle 22.)

The dried rose. — It carries, like it, danger around itself and repentance in its bosom... (See the comparison of the rose, an image of pleasure, when a cantharid displays its emerald green in the rose’s purple corolla.)

4 (id.)

Cleon was eloquent through the force of his nature. Vergniaud and Danton, through their capacity to become so (by imitating those who had been).

5 (id.)

Isocrates, that great enemy of democracy, gives preference to monarchy “because (he says) the best command there”; and he adds: “nothing is more distressing to those who excel than to live without honors and be hidden in the crowd!” Oh, the contemptible man of letters!

[...] Here is one of his observations worth collecting: “Nothing that happens by chance (he says) is durable or solid.” Yet it is possible for a people to recover its freedom by chance and preserve it through a strong will and through prudence. Chance is then in accord with the times, that is to say, with the manners and character of an age.

6 (id.)

It is in the inactivity and solitude to which old age reduces you that it is sweet to think you will make people speak of your life after your death.

T7.This first-person introduction belongs to the source editor, not Joubert. Discover/conjecture, some confidence, explicit hypothesis and remaining undated status are preserved without endorsing a date for any appendix item. The whole source introduction is italic, separate from the UNDATED heading and numbered items; the source’s assessment of importance remains its own. At the damaged margin, […]e Joubert retains e and the complete name but not a complete preceding d. In the reordered English possessive, [Joubert’s] is a deliberately broad contextual counterpart spanning the intact name and the inferred possessive relation through de; it does not claim that the name is lost. Before ai, the apostrophe survives but no complete j is certified: [I] renders that contextual subject, while have renders the intact ai. Neither bracket restores French letters. These two reproduction losses are separate from the printed source-editor omission in item 5. The introduction remains one italic editorial paragraph before SANS DATE, without an enclosing year or a main-entry identity.

T280.This complete single paragraph is italic and belongs to the source editor, before SANS DATE and all numbered items; it is neither a Joubert main entry nor a footnote. No enclosing year applies. At the worn second-line opening before Joubert, only e is complete; the preceding expected d has an incomplete slanted stem/bowl in both original color and native 449. Before ai, the apostrophe survives but the preceding j is not complete. These two lexical residues remain […]e and […]’ai, without contextual French completion. The other foreground starts et/hypothèse/que/divers/d’importance are abraded but identifiable in the color/native views. All repeated dates, first-person editorial claims and hypothesis qualifications are retained. The source distinguishes discovering/conjecturing from what remains undated.

T1.Both questions and all five representational acts in the first answer remain. Extremities preserves the bodily boundary image, and without-reality/without-body remain separate. All minds, within/despite themselves and at random are not smoothed into deliberate agreement. English combines the first two c’est predicates under one It is, a grammatical coordination adjustment without a source loss. French retains apperçoit with double p and hazard with z. Printed item 1 and (Liasse 17) stay separate metadata; only Liasse 17 is italic, without an internal terminal period, while the number, parentheses and body are roman. The bundle label supplies no date.

T172.In the French source, printed item 1 and the label (Liasse 17) are separate metadata, without a terminal period inside this first label and without a date. The label content Liasse 17 is italic; its parentheses and item number are roman. Literal apperçoit has double p; final hazard has z. Both questions, repeated c’est, bodily extremities/eye and all semicolon relations remain in one roman paragraph. Foreground initials que/a/en/qu’/les/quand are readable despite gutter/show-through marks, so no extra loss is supplied.

T2.Great/always/long, reciprocal war, kind-of and in-some-way qualifications and binds/disunites remain. Commerce retains the exchange/intercourse sense without requiring literal trade. French retains ceux même without adding an s to même; very people is its contextual English counterpart. The italic id. within roman parentheses remains a backward manuscript-group relation, not an inherited date or a certified manuscript identity. Both sentences form one roman paragraph.

T173.In the French source, printed item 2 has italic id. within roman parentheses. The printed group relation refers backward without certifying a manuscript identity or supplying a date. Literal ceux même has no added s on même. The two sentences remain one roman paragraph, with the reciprocal war relation intact.

T3.The awkward like it preserves the unassigned masculine lui rather than silently supplying pleasure, which is suggested later by the comparison. Repentance retains repentir and bosom the inner bodily image. Cantharid preserves the specific insect term; no toxicological explanation is inserted. The final sa corolle is contextually rendered the rose’s corolla; the possessive form alone does not uniquely establish its possessor. French retains literal verd. The See pointer remains unresolved, not a fabricated book link. Vid., the full parenthesis and all body wording are roman; the printed ellipsis remains, and the parenthesis closes after its internal period. The separate (Liasse 22.) label keeps its internal period italic with Liasse 22., while its parentheses remain roman.

T4.The completed past, force-of-nature contrast, nominal second sentence and full parenthetic imitation remain. Capacity contextually renders susceptibilité as receptivity or ability to become eloquent, not irritability; no additional historical assessment is added. Conventional English Cleon corresponds to literal French Cléon; Vergniaud and Danton are unchanged. The second sentence supplies no repeated finite main predicate. Its complete parenthesis is roman and precedes the final sentence period. The separate id. group label is italic within roman parentheses and supplies no date.

T175.In the French source, printed item 4 retains the italic id. group label. Cléon has its acute; Vergniaud and Danton remain literal. The second sentence lacks a repeated finite main predicate; the parenthetic imitation and final period after the close remain. All body text is roman.

T5.Great enemy, preference, both quoted claims, best/excel and the final denunciation remain Joubert’s. Honors provisionally renders dignités as distinctions or ranks; distressing renders fâcheux without inventing an injury. The source attribution is not independently authenticated. French has plain O; English uses Oh and adds its following comma. Both exclamations remain, the semicolon stays outside the first quotation, and the second quotation begins with lower-case nothing. All body and quotation text is roman; this is the first of two paragraphs under printed item 5, whose separate id. label is italic within roman parentheses.

T176.In the French source, printed item 5 retains italic id. within roman parentheses and has two main paragraphs. The bracketed three-point omission [...] at the second opening is visibly printed source-editor matter, not a new reproduction loss. Literal plain O precedes the denunciation; both exclamations, the first quotation’s following semicolon, and the second paragraph’s quotation period are retained. All quoted material and body text are roman. Original color/native support literal ceppendant with double p; hazard recurs with z. The source prints c’est à dire without inserted hyphens. All left-margin starts, including lettré/Il/liberté/Le/mœurs, retain identifiable foreground contours despite abrasion; no new gap is inferred.

T6.The printed bracketed omission [...] remains distinct from reproduction damage, including the two margin losses in the separate source-editor introduction. Both negated qualities, possibility, recover/preserve contrast, repeated chance, strong will/prudence and final clarification remain. The repeated through explicitly renders both par relations. Times and age preserve temps/siècle in context without assigning a calendar year. French retains ceppendant with double p, repeated hazard with z and unhyphenated c’est à dire. The quotation period is already inside the source closing mark; English adds a comma after that is to say. This second paragraph remains roman and belongs to the same numbered item as the preceding Isocrates paragraph.

T8.The restrictive setting, inactivity/solitude, sweetness, future effect and life/death contrast remain. English keeps the second-person relation through the sentence instead of shifting to impersonal one. French shifts from vous to on/sa, so continuous you/your is a contextual grammatical adaptation rather than a uniquely second-person source sequence. Literal faira remains in French. The qualified small dash-like mark in parler-de is omitted in ordinary English speak of; an incidental printing or reproduction trace remains possible, and no authorial hyphenation is certified. The body is roman; only id. in the separate parenthetic group label is italic, with no date supplied.

T177.In the French source, item 6 retains the italic id. group relation and no date. Literal faira is printed with ai, not normalized to fera. Source vous shifts to on/sa; no new named referent is supplied. Original-size color/native show a small substantial mid-height dash-like mark between parler and de, closer to de. Qualified parler-de preserves that mark without asserting authorial hyphenation; an incidental reproduction/printing trace remains possible. The complete paragraph is roman.