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 2425 of 4529
YEAR 1811 · Entry 6206
French
p. 484929 octobre.
Les airs de table (les vieux). On ne peut pas s’en souvenir sans se figurer l’assemblée et le chorus. Ils portent à une sorte de danse des mains, comme les bons airs de danse portent à la danse des pieds. Ils égayent comme le vin; ils dissipent comme lui toutes les idées sérieuses et inspirent, tant qu’ils durent, une certaine cordialité.
Tous les airs qu’on chante à table ne sont pas de vrais airs de table.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1811
p. 4850October 29.
Table airs (the old ones). One cannot remember them without picturing the gathering and the chorus. They prompt a sort of dance of the hands, as good dance airs prompt the dancing of the feet. They enliven like wine; like it, they dispel all serious ideas and inspire, as long as they last, a certain cordiality.
Not all the airs sung at table are true table airs.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1811 · Entry 6206
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.