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 1135 of 4529
Mr. Hochet and Mme de Sévigné. · Entry 4916
French
p. 226924 novembre.
Figurez-vous un miroir où les images subsistent quand les objets ont disparu; figurez-vous que ces images se disloquent quelquefois et que de leurs membres séparés il se forme dans le miroir des figures étranges; que ces figures étranges se désassemblent à leur tour et que les membres divers et emprumptés dont elles s’étoient composées reviennent au tronc des figures auxquelles ils avoient d’abord appartenu : vous aurez une idée du cerveau, du délire et du rétablissement de la raison dans l’imagination.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: Mr. Hochet and Mme de Sévigné.
p. 2270November 24.
Imagine a mirror in which images subsist when the objects have disappeared; imagine that these images sometimes come apart and that strange figures form in the mirror from their separated limbs; that these strange figures in turn disassemble and that the various borrowed limbs of which they had been composed return to the trunk of the figures to which they first belonged: you will have an idea of the brain, of delirium, and of the restoration of reason in the imagination.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · Mr. Hochet and Mme de Sévigné. · Entry 4916
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.