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 6223

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French Page · Branch 2442 of 4529

YEAR 1811 · Entry 6223

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 4883

Leur analyse n’est qu’une dissolution chimique. Leurs produits sont des caput mortuum. Tirer d’une pensée tout ce qui y est contenu, sans doute; mais l’identité est une expression décourageante. Les quatre pouces de terre calcaire du comte de Milli, c’est à quoi il réduisoit le corps humain et tout l’homme.

Elle périra par son propre mépris : toute sa séduction est dans sa nouveauté.

Ils prennent pour le bonheur de l’évidence le plaisir que donnent toujours à l’esprit ses illusions mises en ordre.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1811

p. 4884

Their analysis is only a chemical dissolution. Their products are caput mortuum. To draw from a thought everything it contains, doubtless; but identity is a discouraging expression. Count de Milli’s four inches of calcareous earth—that is what he reduced the human body and the whole man to.

It will perish through its own contempt: all its allure lies in its novelty.

They mistake for the happiness of evident truth the pleasure that the mind’s illusions always give it when put in order.

T127.The Latin stays in its printed singular form under the French plural construction. Literally dead head, caput mortuum names a residue after chemical heating or distillation; Venel’s complete article explicitly rejects the claim that such residue must be inert or devoid of active components. The metaphor belongs to this argument, without an added modern chemical explanation. The infinitive fragment and the term identity remain. The count’s name, four inches and reduction are not independently identified or converted to a modern unit. Inches renders the printed pouces, not a weight unit; no cubic measure is supplied.

T128.The feminine source pronoun and possessive remain broad in English it and its. Their precise antecedent and the direction of the contempt are not supplied; future perish and present lies stay distinct.

T129.Mistake for preserves the direction of prennent pour: the pleasure is taken for the happiness of évidence. Evident truth is a contextual rendering rather than an attribution to a named philosophical system. The illusions belong to the mind, and their being put in order remains the source of pleasure.

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.