Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

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The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume IIYEAR 1808 · Entry 5559

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French Page · Branch 1778 of 4529

YEAR 1808 · Entry 5559

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 3555

De l’expression. Le chanteur des rues qui chantoit si mal et qui charmoit les écoutans. C’est qu’il avoit de l’expression. On sentoit dans son chant l’émotion et le plaisir qu’il se causoit sincèrement à lui même, et il les communiquoit.

L’affectation. Affecter, c’est vouloir étaler ce qu’on n’a pas. Un chanteur qui se plaît à lui même peut ne pas plaire parce qu’il ne charme que sa vanité et ne se charme pas sincèrement. Les mêmes tons, les mêmes gestes, les mêmes mots, les mêmes tours de phraze qui sont une affectation dans les uns ne le sont pas dans les autres. Etre naturel, dans les arts, c’est être sincère.

Les ignorans sont les plus sensibles à l’expression. Elle les charme dès qu’elle est conforme au sentiment de celui qui s’exprime. Les scavans la veulent semblable à ce qu’ils sentent ou pensent eux même. Les habiles qui ont conservé un goût naïf et propre à distinguer le naturel de l’ouvrier dans son ouvrage aiment l’expression partout où elle [est] sincère, même lorsqu’elle est contraire à leurs habitudes ou à leurs choix.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1808

p. 3556

Of expression. The street singer who sang so badly and charmed his listeners. It was because he had expression. One felt in his singing the emotion and pleasure he sincerely caused himself, and he communicated them.

Affectation. To affect is to wish to display what one does not have. A singer who pleases himself may fail to please because he charms only his vanity and does not sincerely charm himself. The same tones, the same gestures, the same words, the same turns of phrase that are an affectation in some are not so in others. To be natural in the arts is to be sincere.

The ignorant are the most sensitive to expression. It charms them as soon as it accords with the feeling of the person expressing himself. The learned want it to resemble what they themselves feel or think. The skillful who have preserved a naïve taste fit to discern the craftsman’s natural character in his work love expression wherever it [is] sincere, even when it runs counter to their habits or their choices.

T74.The description of the singer remains a nominal and relative fragment. Expression is retained as the passage’s repeated technical term. Emotion and pleasure are felt and communicated, without replacing either with vocal skill.

T486.Three physical paragraphs remain together. The opening nominal and relative formulations are not supplied with a governing clause. The beginnings of charmoit and dans and the preposition à in paragraph 1 are partly affected by left-edge loss and qualified from surviving traces. Phraze retains z, Etre has no initial accent, scavans has no cedilla, and eux même retains singular même. Lui même is unhyphenated. The supplied [est] remains in square brackets.

T75.To affect means to put on or profess in the discussion of affectation. Display remains the image for what one lacks. The singer’s vanity and his sincere pleasure are not treated as identical, and all four repetitions of the same remain.

T76.Naïve taste denotes an unaffected taste, without implying an inability to judge. The craftsman’s natural character renders le naturel de l’ouvrier, distinct from a merely natural-looking product. The source editor’s [est] is represented by [is]. Those who are skillful and retain such taste form a restricted group; the statement does not cover everyone with skill.

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.