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 7194

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English Page · Branch 3413 of 4529

YEAR 1814 · Entry 7194

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 6825

Celle qui, lasse de parfums, disoit : « Je voudrois sentir du fumier ». Et ce dégoût de mets friands qui nous rend affamés de pain. De même, la satiété des couleurs peut nous affamer de grisaille. Il y a dans beaucoup de styles un prisme qui lasse les yeux. On est charmé par exemple, quand on a lu longtemps Bernardin de Saint Pierre de voir la verdure et les arbres moins colorés dans la campagne qu’ils ne le sont dans ses écrits. Ses Harmonies nous font aimer les dissonances qu’il bannissoit du monde et qu’on y trouve à chaque pas. La nature a bien sa musique, mais elle est rare heureusement. Si la réalité offroit les mélodies que ces messieurs trouvent partout, on vivroit dans une langueur extatique, on mourroit d’assoupissement.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1814

p. 6826

She who, tired of perfumes, said: “I would like to smell manure.” And that disgust with dainty dishes which makes us hungry for bread. In the same way, a surfeit of colors can make us hungry for grisaille. There is in many styles a prism that tires the eyes. One is charmed, for example, after reading Bernardin de Saint Pierre for a long time, to see greenery and trees less colorful in the countryside than they are in his writings. His Harmonies make us love the dissonances he banished from the world and which we find there at every step. Nature certainly has its music, but fortunately it is rare. If reality offered the melodies these gentlemen find everywhere, we would live in an ecstatic languor; we would die of drowsiness.

T107.The first two fragments, woman’s quoted manure, bread hunger, color/monochrome comparison and prism remain. Grisaille preserves the painterly term rather than merely naming a color. The comparative countryside/writing relation, banished/found opposition, qualification of nature’s music and full counterfactual consequences remain. Harmonies stays a title without assigning an edition or completing it. English semicolon separates the final two conditional consequences. The period after manure follows American placement inside the quotation; the French places it after the guillemet. Harmonies alone is italic in both languages.

T224.The entire passage is one physical paragraph. The initial Celle qui fragment and the following Et ce dégoût nominal/relative fragment retain their missing main predicates; neither is completed. In the French source, the quotation closes after fumier before a separate period. The changing perfume/food/color/prism/music images, modal peut, less-color comparison, source ne in the comparative clause, habitual bannissoit, bien and heureusement remain. The final Si clause retains both conditional consequences vivroit/mourroit; no conclusion is suppressed or merged. Bernardin de Saint Pierre remains without inserted name hyphens. Harmonies alone is italic as printed; Ses and the following exposition are roman. The gri-/saille and cam-/pagne wraps and the other left-margin starts are qualified identifiable in color; no artificial source losses are added.

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.