Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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English Page · Branch 1116 of 4529
Mr. Hochet and Mme de Sévigné. · Entry 4897
French
p. 2231L’affectation, la prétention. — L’affectation tient plus aux mots, la prétention à la vanité de l’écrivain. La prétention choque infailliblement et avec raison. L’affectation ne déplaît pas toujours; le temps l’efface.
L’affectation ou la recherche. — Il y en a de deux sortes ou plutôt de deux caractères. Par l’une l’auteur semble dire seulement au lecteur Je veux être clair ou Je veux être exact; et alors il ne déplaît pas. Mais quelquefois il semble dire aussi Je veux briller et alors on le siffle. Règle générale : toutes les fois que l’écrivain n’a songé qu’à son lecteur, ou lui pardonne; s’il n’a songé qu’à lui, on le punit. Voyez Saluste; voyez Pline le jeune.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: Mr. Hochet and Mme de Sévigné.
p. 2232Affectation, pretension. — Affectation has more to do with words, pretension with the writer’s vanity. Pretension invariably offends, and rightly. Affectation does not always displease; time effaces it.
Affectation or studied refinement. — There are two kinds, or rather two characters, of it. Through one the author seems only to say to the reader I wish to be clear or I wish to be exact; and then he does not displease. But sometimes he also seems to say I wish to shine, and then he is hissed. General rule: whenever the writer has thought only of his reader, one forgives him; if he has thought only of himself, one punishes him. See Sallust; see Pliny the Younger.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · Mr. Hochet and Mme de Sévigné. · Entry 4897
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.