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 6077

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English Page · Branch 2296 of 4529

YEAR 1810 · Entry 6077

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 4591

10 avril.

Il y a du paraphe dans ce style. Je veux dire que tous les mots y sont entrelacés comme le sont les ligamens dans un paraphe. Tout y est rentrant et enchaîné jusqu’à l’excès. Inconvénient qui a pour cause une mauvaise habitude de l’esprit ou de la main et une ambition mal entendue.

Ce que j’ai appellé les ligamens dans le paraphe ne sont que les replis de la même ligne continuée. Or, la continuité et la séparation ont leurs loix dans l’écriture et dans le style.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1810

p. 4592

April 10.

There is something of a signature flourish in this style. I mean that all the words in it are intertwined as the ligaments are in a signature flourish. Everything in it turns inward and is chained together to excess. A drawback caused by a bad habit of the mind or hand and a misguided ambition.

What I have called the ligaments in the signature flourish are only the folds of the same continued line. Now continuity and separation have their laws in handwriting and in style.

T54.Signature flourish renders paraphe: the 1798 Académie describes a mark of one or more pen strokes ordinarily added after a signed name. Ligaments preserves the linking image in ligamens. Turns inward and chained together retain the two predicates; mind and hand remain alternatives. The final drawback formulation stays nominal, and misguided ambition renders mal entendue as defective conception or direction rather than another person’s misunderstanding.

T145.Two physical paragraphs remain. Appellé retains double l, and ligamens and loix their printed endings. The first paragraph’s final nominal relative formulation and the second paragraph’s singular Ce que with plural ne sont remain.

T55.What I have called ... are retains the source’s singular introductory formulation and plural predicate. Only preserves the restriction, and folds remains distinct from ligaments. Handwriting is the contextual sense of écriture in the pen-stroke comparison, kept distinct from style. Continuity and separation retain their respective laws without a named calligraphic system.

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.