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 IIUNDATED · Entry 8289

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English Page · Branch 4508 of 4529

UNDATED · Entry 8289

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 9015

49. (Même feuillet.)

Le talent va où est la voix de la louange... C’est la syrène qui l’égare.

Excelle et tu vivras.

— On ne l’a pas assés loué. Les véritables gens de lettres ont semblé croire au dessous d’eux de le juger. Traité par eux en quelque sorte avec une bienveillance dédaigneuse, ils l’ont recommandé au public et le lui ont abbandonné.

Aucune bibliothèque choisie n’a eu pour lui de place sur ses tablettes (ou dans ses rayons). Je voudrois pour venger ce talent méconnu arracher à ses poësies l’or de la gravure et le grand papier qu’on leur a prodigués et en orner les petits contes...

Phèdre n’est pas plus élégant et N lui-même n’est pas plus vrai.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: UNDATED

p. 9016

49. (Same leaf.)

Talent goes where the voice of praise is... It is the siren that leads it astray.

Excel and you will live.

— He has not been praised enough. True men of letters have seemed to think judging him beneath them. Treating him in a way with disdainful benevolence, they recommended him to the public and abandoned him to it.

No select library has had room for him on its shelves (or in its shelving). To avenge this unrecognized talent, I would like to tear from his poems the gold of engraving and the large paper lavished on them, and adorn the little tales with it...

Phaedrus is no more elegant, and N himself is no more true.

S2.Source editor’s annotationHere: “Room and an opportunity.” This perhaps relates, and is perhaps what was lacking, to the mysterious writer whose obscurity Joubert laments.

T71.The voice, printed three-point ellipsis, siren and astray relation remain. It refers to talent in the last clause; no specific writer is named. French retains syrène. The ellipsis is printed punctuation, not a reproduction loss; the body is roman.

T77.Both perhaps qualifications and the unidentified writer remain source-editor voice. Room is a provisional rendering of place, whose opportunity/space sense remains open; no identity or placement is invented. English moves the short quotation’s terminal period inside its closing mark. This complete roman annotation is attached to item 49’s heading and supplies no main date.

T223.In the French source, raised call 2 follows item 49 and precedes its baseline period. The complete annotation is roman, with period outside its short quotation and both peut-être qualifications. No writer is identified.

S3.Source editor’s annotationAnd: “And then the wit one wishes to have would no longer harm the wit one has.”

T72.The command and promised future remain without identifying a speaker or adding forever. The physical raised call after vivras has a qualified 8-like contour, while the attached printed annotation is numbered 3. Its attachment to that annotation is contextual, based on position and content; the call is not silently normalized and no annotation 8 is invented. The call precedes the existing main period; the source annotation stays separate.

T78.Both initial And terms, then, wishes/has and conditional no-longer-harm remain. Wit renders both occurrences of esprit consistently in this contrast, not as two different faculties. This is printed annotation 3, contextually attached to the qualified 8-like raised call after vivras; no missing annotation 8 or corrected call glyph is invented. The full annotation is roman, and its quoted terminal period already stands inside the French guillemet.

T74.No library, room, parenthetic alternative, first-person conditional wish, avenging and tear/adorn relation remain. The complete 1798 Académie Tablette and Rayon entries, directly read by the literary reviewer, give overlapping book-shelf senses. Shelves/shelving preserves the parenthetic variation without introducing a whole bookcase or asserting distinct kinds of furniture. The English collective shelving is a contextual choice, not a technical distinction established by the source. The possessive his and little tales remain unidentified; the difficult relation of the decorated poems to the tales is not repaired. French retains poësies with its diaeresis; the terminal three points are printed, not a reproduction loss. The body is roman.

S1.Source editor’s annotationHere: “Destroying a bird’s nest is not a crime, etc. What you show me in this way, I [disbelieve] and hate.”

T75.Both no-more comparisons and himself remain. Bare N matches the source capital without a following period and stays opaque; no particular author or work is inferred. Phaedrus is the conventional English name for Phèdre. English supplies the comma before and. The final raised source annotation call precedes the existing terminal period; the complete body is roman.

T79.The source editor’s quoted note stays separate from the main comparison. The printed italic Latin is Quod mihi ostendis sic innedatus odi. English [disbelieve] is a conjectural contextual emendation of anomalous innedatus through incredulus, recast as a finite verb coordinated with hate. It is not a translation of a certified incredulus spelling, a reproduction-loss restoration or a recovered French/Latin letter. The remaining Latin is freshly translated from this printed clause. The entire English Latin counterpart through its terminal period is italic, while the preceding French-derived sentence and enclosing quotation marks are roman. No published Horace translation, newly retrieved outside Latin witness or inferred relation to the unidentified N is supplied.

T225.In the French source, the raised call 1 follows vrai before its baseline period. This complete one-paragraph annotation prints roman French followed by italic Quod mihi ostendis sic innedatus odi. through the Latin period; enclosing guillemets are roman. Original-size color and native 458 support literal innedatus, not the preliminary contextual incredulus. No Latin letter is restored from an external witness and no reproduction loss is indicated. English [disbelieve] is explicitly disclosed as a conjectural contextual rendering through incredulus.

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.