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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Facing Pages · Branch 2079 of 4529
YEAR 1808 · Entry 5860
French
p. 4157L’esprit humain, inexercé, ne put pas tout à coup embrasser toute entière cette idée si simple de la divinité. Il la morcela, en imaginant plusieurs dieux. Celui de la germination eut son attribut distinctif grossièrement caractérisé par une forme obscène et que le goût […]éprouvoit, mais qu’un respect pieux pour les premiers usages perpétua jusqu’à la fin.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1808
p. 4158The unexercised human mind could not all at once embrace in its entirety this very simple idea of divinity. It broke it into pieces by imagining several gods. The god of germination had his distinctive attribute crudely characterized by a form that was obscene and that taste […]éprouvoit, but that a pious respect for the earliest customs perpetuated to the end.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1808 · Entry 5860
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.