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 1814 · Entry 7029

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English Page · Branch 3248 of 4529

YEAR 1814 · Entry 7029

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 6495

Têtes propres à recevoir la lumière et à la laisser passer. Elles la […]çoivent, et la retiennent, et la transmettent. Elles rayonnent, elles […]lairent. Là se termine leur action, leur fonction, leur propriété. Il […]ut joindre à leur opération celle des agens secondaires pour lui […]nner de l’efficacité. Et c’est ainsi que le soleil produit mais ne […]ltive pas. (Il fait naître, ou plutôt éclore, mais il ne cultive pas.)

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1814

p. 6496

Heads fitted to receive light and let it pass. They [receive] it, and retain it, and transmit it. They radiate, they [illuminate]. There their action, their function, their property ends. To their operation [must] be joined that of secondary agents to [give] it efficacy. And it is thus that the sun produces but does not [cultivate]. (It brings things to birth, or rather to bloom, but it does not cultivate.)

S1.Source editor’s annotationVariant: “There are luminous brains, heads fitted to receive, retain and transmit light. They radiate on all sides; they illuminate... [etc.] It is necessary to join...[etc.] but [it] cultivates nothing.”

T195.The repeated light operations, threefold limit and the distinction between producing and cultivating remain. Property retains propriété as a capacity or characteristic. Things supplies the ordinary English object of brings, not a source restoration. The sun’s birth/bloom correction remains inside the parenthesis. Source note 1 is separate apparatus. [Receive], [illuminate], [must], [give] and the first [cultivate] contextually interpret reçoivent, éclairent, faut, donner and cultive from […]çoivent, […]lairent, […]ut, […]nner and […]ltive. The full English words are bracketed; the source letters are not restored. The earlier receive and final intact cultivate remain outside brackets.

T204.This is Beaunier’s separate variant, not an additional dated entry. Both source bracketed etc. forms and the ellipses remain; no omitted text or secondary agent is supplied. The final French cultive is singular and has no expressed subject in the surviving clause. [It] supplies an English grammatical subject while leaving its antecedent unresolved across the omission; it is not a recovered French pronoun. The earlier plural brains/heads does not determine that final singular subject. The semicolon after sides follows the French separation; the entire variant remains roman.

T501.The indented Têtes is complete; detached margin remnants before it do not establish an extra word. Actual interrupted beginnings retain çoivent, lairent, ut, nner and ltive; the preceding partial bowls/stems do not certify re, éc, fa, do or cu. The five gaps remain explicit, with intact Il and the first ne/pas retained. The second complete ne cultive pas in the parenthesis is unchanged and unbracketed. The feminine pronouns, repeated et, three singular predicates and secondary-agent relation remain. The raised source call follows the final closing parenthesis.

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.