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 1809 · Entry 5976

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Facing Pages · Branch 2195 of 4529

YEAR 1809 · Entry 5976

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 4389

[…]1 novembre.

Ceux à qui Racine suffit sont de pauvres Ames et de pauvres […]sprits. Ce sont des âmes et des esprits restés béjaunés et pensionnaires de couvent. Admirable sans doute pour avoir rendu poëtiques […]es sentimens les plus bourgeois et les passions les plus médiocres! […]l ne tient lieu que de lui-même. C’est un écrivain supérieur — et en littérature c’est tout dire. Mais, quoi qu’on en dise, ce n’est point un […]crivain inimitable : il n’y en a point. Pradon a fait beaucoup de vers pareils aux siens.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1809

p. 4390

November […]1.

Those for whom Racine suffices are poor Souls and poor […]sprits. They are souls and minds that have remained greenhorns and convent boarders. Admirable, no doubt, for having made poetic […]es most bourgeois feelings and the most mediocre passions! […]l takes the place only of himself. He is a superior writer—and in literature that is to say everything. But whatever one may say, he is no inimitable […]crivain: there are none. Pradon has made many verses like his.

T117.Greenhorns renders béjaunés as inexperienced or immature, retaining the disparagement. The capital Souls is kept at its first appearance. The residues […]sprits, […]es, […]l, and […]crivain remain French: esprits, minds; les, the; Il, he; and écrivain, writer, are possible completions. Takes the place only of himself does not make Racine a substitute for all literature. The subjectless Admirable, the exclamation, and the claim that no writer is inimitable remain. The related noun béjaune in the 1798 Académie carries a disparaging sense of foolish or naïve youth; this supports the rendering without independently attesting the exact adjectival form béjaunés.

T295.Only final 1 is secure in the date. The first Ames is capitalized without a certified accent; the later âmes is lowercase with circumflex. Béjaunés retains its accents and printed spelling; poëtiques has a diaeresis. Missing initials before sprits, es, l and crivain remain marked; esprits, les, Il and écrivain are contextual possibilities. The wrapped pensionnaires, initial littérature and vers are partly damaged but preserve supporting traces and remain qualified readings. The subjectless Admirable and the exclamation remain.

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.