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 1810 · Entry 6075

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Facing Pages · Branch 2294 of 4529

YEAR 1810 · Entry 6075

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 4587

Des ouvrages et du style auxquels on ne peut rien ajouter : ni force, ni poli, ni douceur, ni correction. Ils sont insupportables. La grâce a quelque chose de moëlleux qu’il semble qu’on puisse paitrir. — O inflexibilité! ô fadeur! ô marbre! ô miel, ô huile! etc.

Comme la chair. On peut la ramollir, on peut la dessécher, la palir, la colorer plus qu’elle ne l’est dans le véritable embonpoint.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1810

p. 4588

Works and style to which one can add nothing: neither strength, nor polish, nor sweetness, nor correctness. They are unbearable. Grace has something soft that one seems able to knead. — O inflexibility! O insipidity! O marble! O honey, O oil! etc.

Like flesh. One can soften it, one can dry it out, make it pale, color it more than it is in true plumpness.

T51.Strength, polish, sweetness, and correctness remain distinct, followed by the abrupt They are unbearable. Soft renders moëlleux through its tactile sense; the 1798 Académie also records softness of handling and blended contours in painting. Knead interprets the printed paitrir in its context, without changing that anomalous French spelling to pétrir. The exclamations retain marble, honey, and oil; French’s first plain O and later accented ô forms remain distinct in the source.

T143.Two physical paragraphs remain. The glyphs in the enlarged facsimile support moëlleux with a diaeresis and the literal paitrir rather than an imposed pétrir. The initial O is unaccented, unlike the following ô forms; no circumflex is certified over the a of palir. The nominal comparison and comparative ne remain.

T52.The opening Like flesh remains a fragment. The repeated one can and the subsequent shared constructions retain the sequence of softening, drying, paling, and coloring. True plumpness keeps véritable embonpoint rather than naming an artistic school or a medical condition. The comparative ne does not negate the condition of the flesh; palir remains unchanged in French.

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.