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 6014

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Facing Pages · Branch 2233 of 4529

YEAR 1809 · Entry 6014

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 4465

Aux enfans, en littérature, rien que de simple.

La simplicité n’a jamais corrompu le goût. Elle ne fait aimer rien de mauvais. Que dis-je? elle ne le souffre même pas. Tout ce qui est poétiquement défectueux est incompatible avec elle. C’est ainsi que la limpidité de l’eau se détruit par le mélange de toute matière trop terrestre.

Notre goût alimentaire se corrompt par des saveurs trop fortes et […]otre goût littéraire pur dans ses commencemens par toutes les […]xpressions trop prononcées.

Ne lui (sic) donnez que des auteurs où leur âme trouve à la fois un mouvement et un repos perpétuels — qui les occupent sans effort — […]t dont ils se souviennent sans peine.

Ce n’est pas l’eau, ce n’est pas le pain, le plus simple des aliments après le lait, qui dénaturent notre appétit, ce sont les sausses compo[…]ées, faites pour des palais usés. Etc.

Cependant le lait, le pain et l’eau elle-même se corrompent par […]’excessives fermentations.

Ce qui est simple en littérature peut aussi être corrompu par un […]uteur trop passionné — voyez Rousseau le genevois. Etc.

Ibid. Nota.

Rousseau le genevois.

Sa bile a de belles couleurs — et — il a des haines animantes. Etc.

— Nota — Tout ce qui n’est pas beau dans sa simplicité et au premier coup d’œil, tout ce qui n’est tel que par composition, par le travail et l’industrie ne doit pas plaire à des enfans... et on ne les dresse à l’aimer qu’en substituant à leur goût naturel un goût d’emprumpt qui leur ôte bientôt toute conscience personnelle. Etc.

J’entends ici par conscience etc. or il faut que l’esprit, que le jugement, que l’imagination, que chaque faculté garde la conscience de soi, pour ne pas être dépravée, etc.

Ainsi la plupart des talens n’ont rien de vrai que l’apparence et la plupart des styles ne sont que de fausses surfaces.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1809

p. 4466

For children, in literature, nothing but what is simple.

Simplicity has never corrupted taste. It does not make one love anything bad. What am I saying? it does not even tolerate it. Everything poetically defective is incompatible with it. Thus the clarity of water is destroyed by the admixture of any matter too earthly.

Our taste for food is corrupted by flavors that are too strong, and […]otre literary taste, pure in its beginnings, by all […]xpressions that are too emphatic.

Give them (sic) only authors in whom their soul finds at once perpetual movement and rest—who occupy them without effort—[…]t whom they remember without difficulty.

It is not water, it is not bread, the simplest of foods after milk, that pervert our appetite; it is the compo[…]ées sauces, made for worn palates. Etc.

Yet milk, bread, and water itself are corrupted by […] excessive fermentations.

What is simple in literature can also be corrupted by an […]uteur who is too passionate—see Rousseau the Genevan. Etc.

Ibid. Note.

Rousseau the Genevan.

His bile has beautiful colors— and—he has animating hatreds. Etc.

— Note — Everything that is not beautiful in its simplicity and at first glance, everything that is so only by composition, by labor and industry, should not please children... and one trains them to love it only by substituting for their natural taste a borrowed taste that soon takes from them all personal consciousness. Etc.

I mean here by consciousness etc. now the mind, judgment, imagination, every faculty must retain consciousness of itself, so as not to be depraved, etc.

Thus most talents have nothing true but appearance, and most styles are only false surfaces.

T161.The opening remains nominal. This begins the long source unit that continues onto page 683, rather than a new editorial heading.

T323.Thirteen physical paragraphs form one source block across 682–683, with no asterisk before the standalone Ibid. Nota., Rousseau le genevois. or the subsequent formulations. The two centered lines in paragraph 10 form one body paragraph. The damaged left edge in paragraph 3 certifies only […]otre and […]xpressions; notre and expressions are contextual possibilities, not complete recoveries. In paragraph 4, the opening before t dont is lost. Lui remains singular with the printed sic, while leur, les and ils remain plural. Paragraph 5 retains sausses and explicit compo[…]ées across the line break, where the initial letter of the second-line ending is not certifiable. Paragraph 6 retains the apostrophe after a lost initial, and paragraph 7 has only […]uteur; d’excessives and auteur are contextual possibilities. Partly clipped mouvement, après and several later initial strokes are retained as qualified readings from surviving forms. Paragraph 11 retains emprumpt with m before p. At the left edge before l’aimer, à is retained from its surviving form; the neighboring damaged ink is not assigned additional letters. The incomplete J’entends ici par conscience etc. in paragraph 12 is not expanded into a definition. Lowercase or after etc. and feminine dépravée remain.

T162.Simplicity remains the subject of causes one to love and tolerates, and the referent of incompatible with it. The lowercase it after the question is retained. Clarity, admixture, and earthly matter preserve the water image without identifying a particular literary defect.

T163.Flavors follows American spelling. The French residues […]otre and […]xpressions remain untranslated, with notre, our, and expressions, expressions, possible completions. Pure in its beginnings qualifies literary taste; too emphatic preserves the excess in trop prononcées.

T164.The printed singular lui, marked sic in the source, is followed by plural leur, les, and ils. English singular and plural them have the same written form, so the mismatch cannot be displayed equally clearly; it is recorded here without assigning gender. Sic remains a source intervention, not a new translator annotation. Perpetual applies to both movement and rest. The residue […]t remains French; et, and, is a possible completion.

T165.Pervert renders dénaturent rather than repeating corrupt. The simplest food after milk refers to bread. The residue compo[…]ées remains French, with composées, compounded, a possible completion. Worn palates retains the bodily image, and Etc. remains capitalized.

T166.The gap before excessive fermentations records the lost French opening before the apostrophe in […]’excessives. Probable d’ is not restored in French or represented as a recovered English article. Milk, bread, and water itself remain distinct subjects.

T167.The French […]uteur remains a residue, probably auteur, author. Rousseau the Genevan preserves the source’s identifying epithet without naming a work. The possibility of corruption is not changed into an assertion that every simple work is corrupt.

T168.Ibid. is retained and Note renders Nota. These words remain their own emphasized body paragraph inside Joubert’s unit; they do not become a translator’s note or a separate source annotation.

T169.The epithet takes the conventional English capital. The entire emphasized line remains a body paragraph in the same unit, without an invented date or separate entry title.

T171.The printed Note cue remains part of Joubert’s text. The two Everything clauses, first glance, composition, labor, and industry remain distinct. Consciousness renders conscience here as inward awareness of one’s own judgment, not merely a moral verdict; the following paragraph develops its application to faculties. Borrowed taste preserves the source image and its effect on personal awareness.

T172.The opening definition trails off at etc. and is not completed. Lowercase now follows the source or. Mind, judgment, and imagination are followed by the generalizing every faculty; the requirement remains consciousness of itself, and the final feminine dépravée refers to the faculty, not an identified person. Consciousness is repeated with the source’s two separate emphases.

T173.Appearance is the sole truth allowed to most talents, while most styles are only false surfaces. The paradox and the repeated most remain; no author is named.

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.