Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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English Page · Branch 1228 of 4529
YEAR 1807 · Entry 5009
French
p. 24551ᵉʳ février.
« Un choix ingénieux ». Il faut en effet que le choix du sujet soit « ingénieux », qu’il offre au génie du poète une espèce de lieu fantastique, qu’il puisse étendre et resserrer à volonté et peupler comme il le voudra. Un lieu trop réel, une population trop historique emprisonnent l’esprit et en gênent les mouvemens.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1807
p. 2456February 1.
“An ingenious choice.” The choice of subject must indeed be “ingenious,” offering the poet’s genius a kind of fantastic place that he can expand and contract at will and populate as he wishes. Too real a place, too historical a population, imprison the mind and hamper its movements.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1807 · Entry 5009
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.
Historical Text and Translation
The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume II continues the notebooks and includes seventy undated pieces. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.
Rights
The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.