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 1811 · Entry 6156

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English Page · Branch 2375 of 4529

YEAR 1811 · Entry 6156

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 4749

26 mars.

Marseille. Chateaubriand disoit : « Cette ville est fort au dessus de sa réputation... Cela est plus beau que Paris : à l’exception des palais. Voilà donc cette mer où est né Neptune! Il y a entre la Méditerranée et l’Océan la différence qu’on pourroit observer entre la mythologie et le Christianisme... Au reste, quand on voit des oliviers, on n’est pas étonné qu’Homère et Virgile comparent si souvent les jeunes hommes à cet arbre. Il a je ne scais quoi d’adolescent... Les bains de marbre... » Et : « L’abondance de leurs eaux. Les voluptés asiatiques... »

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1811

p. 4750

March 26.

Marseille. Chateaubriand said: “This city is far above its reputation... This is more beautiful than Paris: except for the palaces. So this is the sea where Neptune was born! Between the Mediterranean and the Ocean there is the difference one might observe between mythology and Christianity... Besides, when one sees olive trees, one is not surprised that Homer and Virgil so often compare young men to this tree. It has I know not what of adolescence... The marble baths...” And: “The abundance of their waters. Asiatic sensual delights...”

S1.Source editor’s annotationSeparate sheet, dated only “March 26.” I assign it to 1811 because that is the year Joubert went to Marseille; but I do not say that he was in Marseille precisely on March 26. The notebook gives absolutely nothing from March 21 to April 6. As for the quotation from Chateaubriand, I do not know whether it was written or spoken.

T48.The two quoted stretches and intervening And remain within one paragraph. The mythological and literary comparisons remain as attributed statements, without assigning a newly verified ancient locus. The tree is the antecedent of the adolescent quality. Beaunier’s separate note qualifies both the year placement and whether this quotation was written or spoken; no exact visit date or work is inferred. The elusive first-person phrase and all printed ellipses remain; sensual delights retains the plural voluptés. The name follows the qualified plain spelling Chateaubriand.

T56.I is Beaunier in this source apparatus. The assignment to 1811 remains his inference, not a year printed on the separate sheet. His denial of an exact March 26 visit inference and his uncertainty about written or spoken quotation remain explicit. The notebook interval is a report of absence of entries, not a transcription gap newly introduced here.

T191.One physical paragraph retains both quoted stretches, all ellipses and the intervening Et. Thin displaced marks above both a letters in the main name Chateaubriand resemble the surrounding reproduction artifacts and do not certify a circumflex; the plain spelling is retained with that qualification. Some right-edge strokes are abraded but support the complete words, including the e in de. Au dessus is unhyphenated; Océan and Christianisme retain their capitals, and the printed Il a and scais are not regularized. Source call 1 follows mars in the date before its period. The separate-sheet annotation explicitly qualifies the year and the precise March 26 location, and leaves the quotation’s written or spoken origin unresolved.

T192.One roman apparatus paragraph dates the separate sheet only by an explicit editorial inference to 1811, declines to locate Joubert in Marseille precisely on March 26, and leaves the quotation’s written or spoken source unresolved. Chateaubriand is plain in this apparatus occurrence.

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.