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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

UNDATED

7 (id.)

These kinds of expressions, movements and thoughts arise only in moments when the organization is perfect through the accord and harmony of all the fluids and all the fibers. One does not find them without this, and it is true that reflection can dispose one to this state, so rare and which I shall call blessed; and thus, with work, one succeeds in making a beautiful work; but the most assiduous work is useless if these moments, so rare and so beautiful, do not come.

8 (Bundle 36.)

Princes are more sensitive to offenses that tend to take their authority from them than to services that give it to them.

9 (Bundle 38.)

Wit consists in having many useless thoughts, and good sense in being well supplied with essential and necessary ideas and notions.

10 (Bundle 8.)

Within the great language there is a kind of language that is particular and that I would call historical language, because it expresses only things relating to our present manners, our current governments, to that whole state of affairs, finally, which changes every day and must pass. Whoever wishes to make himself a lasting style must use it only with extreme restraint.

11 (Bundle 2.)

Whoever invented printing made writing immortal.

12 (Bundle 39.)

Observe that knowledge of poisons was common among the ancients because the danger of captivity was continual. Demosthenes carried death in his ring, to use it as soon as the republic should be lost.

13 (id.)

In this reversal of ages, life is for you a formless dream, a bizarre heap of follies and incoherences. What picture, then, do you present to the observer’s eye? With you, childhood is without gaiety, maturity without gravity.

14 (On the same leaf.)

Each of our members has its local and particular memory, independent of the great memory. And the member of which we speak is, of all ours, the most intelligent and the most separately existent.

15 (Bundle 4.)

It is ambition that makes the great intervals. A groom of the king of France is nearer his master than the chancellor.

16 (Same leaf.)

Here, sovereigns have done the world a great good: civilizing men. Another good remains for them to do when the time has come for it, when these new men have reached maturity: to come down from the throne and return it to the peoples.

T9.All three opening kinds, restrictive only, organic organization, repeated all, reflection’s possibility, first-person future and repeated work remain. Organization refers provisionally to bodily constitution in the fluid/fiber context, not a social organization. Blessed preserves bienheureux without supplying a religious doctrine; the final conditional denies sufficiency to labor alone. French retains mouvemens and momens. Its future j’appellerai is preserved as I shall call, distinct from the later conditional in item 10. English supplies commas after this, state and moments and around with work, and omits the source comma after inutile. Both semicolon boundaries remain. The body is roman; the separate id. label is italic within roman parentheses and supplies no date.

T178.In the French source, item 7 retains italic id. and one long roman paragraph. Mouvemens/momens and the repeated liqueurs/fibres/all relations remain literal. Future j’appellerai is distinct from the later conditional j’appellerois in item 10. The source has no comma after cela, état or momens before their following qualifications; it does have a comma after inutile. Both semicolons, restrictive ne…que, point negative and final conditional remain. Complete right-edge words and all ordinary wraps supply no lexical gaps.

T10.The comparative, tend-to qualification and reciprocal taking/giving of authority remain. Canonical (Liasse 36.) follows the completed source collation; the navigation map’s earlier provisional 30 is not adopted. Only Liasse 36., including its period, is italic; the parentheses, item number 8 and body are roman. The label supplies no date. Literal French authorité retains h and ôter its circumflex; English authority is ordinary translation, not a correction of the French spelling.

T179.In the French source, the label is (Liasse 36.), with identifiable 6, not the navigation map’s provisional 30. Liasse 36. is italic within roman parentheses; item 8 is separate roman numbering. No date is inferred. Literal authorité retains h and ôter its circumflex. Comparative plus, tendent and all authority pronouns remain in one roman paragraph.

T11.Wit provisionally renders esprit against bon sens. Many/useless contrasts with well-supplied/essential/necessary; ideas/notions remain paired. The paradox is not softened by changing useless to useful. The second clause does not repeat consists, corresponding to the absent repeated consiste in French. English supplies the comma before and. The complete nécessaires wrap supplies no lexical gap. The body is roman; Liasse 38. is italic within the separate roman parentheses, with no date assigned.

T180.In the French source, the label (Liasse 38.) and printed item 9 are distinct source metadata. The second coordinated clause does not repeat consiste. The entire roman paragraph, two adjective pairs and complete néces-/saires wrap remain.

T12.Great/particular, first-person conditional name, only, present/current, whole/every-day/must-pass and lasting-style contrast remain. Extreme restraint renders extrême sobriété in use, not abstinence from drink. No named national language is inserted. That is particular turns the source adjective particulière into an English relative so that and that I would call retains the explicit et que without a broken English coordination. This grammatical expansion is not a source loss. French retains Quiquonque, stile and gouvernemens. English supplies the comma before because and the commas around finally. The source has three à relations; English coordinates our current governments without repeating to. The entire body is roman; Liasse 8. is italic within the separate roman parentheses and supplies no date.

T181.In the French source, the label is (Liasse 8.) for printed item 10. Literal Quiquonque has qui- before -quonque; stile and gouvernemens remain. Conditional j’appellerois and explicit et que are retained without grammatical repair. The source has no commas around enfin or before parce que; the three à relations and both qui clauses remain. No source nation/language is named. All body text is roman and its wraps are complete.

T13.The unnamed inventor, completed act and immortal-making claim remain. No identity, date or history of printing is supplied. The simple English past renders both a-plus-participle constructions as completed acts. The one sentence is roman; Liasse 2. is italic within its separate roman parentheses, with the source item number outside.

T182.In the French source, printed item 11 has (Liasse 2.), with no date. Both a-plus-participle constructions, unnamed inventor and terminal period remain in one roman sentence.

T14.The imperative, common/continual, causal relation, ring/death image and future-in-the-past condition remain. Knowledge contextually renders science without implying a modern discipline. The historical anecdote is translated as stated, not independently certified or expanded. Conventional English Demosthenes corresponds to literal Démosthènes; the complete Démos-/thènes wrap is not a source gap. English supplies the comma before the purpose phrase to use it. The two-sentence paragraph is roman; Liasse 39. is italic within its separate roman parentheses and supplies no date.

T183.In the French source, printed item 12 has (Liasse 39.), with no date. The Démos-/thènes wrap is complete; no letter or paragraph loss is inferred. Both étoit forms, portoit, seroit and the ring/death image remain. All body text is roman; the historical claim is not externally authenticated here.

T15.The demonstrative reversal, formless dream, heap, plural follies/incoherences and childhood/maturity contrast remain. The rhetorical question retains the source’s question mark and the inferential force of Aussi; no referent for you or historical generation is invented. French retains anomalous présentés-vous with é followed by s; English renders its interrogative function without silently correcting the French form to présentez-vous. English supplies commas after the opening reversal phrase and With you, and places the inferential then between commas. Both sans relations remain. The paragraph is roman; the italic id. label within separate roman parentheses is a backward group relation, not a date or a newly identified manuscript.

T184.In the French source, printed item 13 retains italic id. and one roman paragraph. Original-size color/native support literal présentés-vous, with acute é followed by s; no z is substituted. The interrogative function remains even though the printed inflection is anomalous. The source has no comma after âges or Chez vous. Its question mark, two sans phrases, âges/mûr accents and final period remain; no source referent for vous is assigned.

T16.Local/particular versus great memory, each/all and both superlatives remain. Member retains the bodily term without identifying which organ is intended; separately existent preserves the unusual degree of independent existence, not a modern neurological explanation. English supplies commas around of all ours; the French has none there. The separate Sur le même feuillet. relation is italic inside roman parentheses and identifies no manuscript or date; the body is roman.

T185.In the French source, printed item 14 has the separate italic Sur le même feuillet. relation inside roman parentheses, referring backward without an identified manuscript or date. Both superlatives, nôtres circumflex, local memory and the unusual existant à part remain literal. All body text and both periods are roman; the complete indépendante wrap is not a gap.

T17.The causal cleft, great intervals and nearer-than paradox remain. Groom is a stable attendant in this context, not a bridegroom; the unnamed king is not identified.

T186.In the French source, printed item 15 has (Liasse 4.), with only the interior label italic. The causal cleft, both periods, comparative près and maître circumflex remain. Neither the king nor a date is identified; all body text is roman.

T18.Here, completed benefit, a further benefit, both when clauses, new men/maturity and return-to-peoples remain. Civilizing contextually renders policer as forming orderly civil society, not merely policing. When the time has come for it idiomatically renders plural les temps en seront venus with singular English time; for it refers contextually to the further good to be done. Both French future-perfect forms are rendered by present-perfect English temporal clauses, preserving their anteriority. English uses a colon for the source semicolon before de policer and a colon plus infinitive for c’est de; the second de shares the first English to. No country or historical event is supplied. The separate Même feuillet. relation supplies no date; all body text is roman.

T187.In the French source, printed item 16 keeps the italic Même feuillet. relation and null date. The semicolon before de policer and later colon before c’est remain, with repeated quand and de. Both future-perfect constructions, plural peoples and unassigned Ici remain; the whole body is roman.