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 II1812 · Entry 6314

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Facing Pages · Branch 2533 of 4529

1812 · Entry 6314

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5065

Il y a une sorte de génie qui semble tenir à la terre. C’est la force. […]ne autre qui tient de la terre et du ciel, et c’est l’élévation; une […]utre enfin qui tient de Dieu, c’est la lumière et la sagesse ou la lumière […]e l’esprit. Toute lumière vient d’en haut.

Dans les qualités littéraires, les unes tiennent aux organes, les autres […] l’âme; quelques unes à la culture, quelques autres à la nature. La […]erve par exemple nous est donnée; et le bon goût s’acquiert. L’intel[…]igence vient de l’âme, le métier vient de l’habitude. Ce qui vient de […]’âme est plus beau et tout ce qui nous est naturel est plus divin.

La verve (qui nous est donnée) tient aux organes; l’intelligence ou […]a sagesse tient à l’âme.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: 1812

p. 5066

There is a kind of genius that seems to belong to the earth. It is strength. [Another] that partakes of earth and heaven, and it is elevation; [another], finally, that partakes of God: it is light and wisdom or the light [of] the mind. All light comes from above.

Among literary qualities, some depend on the organs, others [on] the soul; some on cultivation, some others on nature. [Verve], for example, is given to us; and good taste is acquired. [Intelligence] comes from the soul, craft comes from habit. What comes from [the] soul is more beautiful, and everything natural to us is more divine.

Verve (which is given to us) depends on the organs; intelligence or wisdom depends on the soul.

T78.The three sources, their order, seems and the repeated light remain. Strength and elevation stay distinct; the final or does not become an added equivalence. The first [Another] renders contextual Une autre from […]ne autre, including the intact adjective; the second [another] renders une […]utre, whose adjective is damaged. [Of] represents contextual de from […]e. These broader English brackets do not restore French letters. Both English that words render intact qui outside the contextual brackets and preserve the source’s relative openings.

T420.The three printed paragraphs remain one undated unit. At the upper damaged edge, the capital before ne, the first letter before utre and the first letter before e l’esprit are not certifiable; Une, autre and de are contextual completions only. The second paragraph loses the word before l’âme, the first letter of verve, the component after wrapped intel, and the letter before ’âme. The third loses the first letter before a sagesse. Contextual à, verve, intelligence, l’âme and la are not restored. The later intact La verve and intelligence remain. The shifts tenir à/tenir de, repeated light and nominal second/third kinds remain. The pronouns and coordination of sagesse ou lumière are not regularized.

T79.The four sources, gift/acquisition contrast, repeated comes from and two comparatives remain. Organs stays a bodily term without a new physiological theory; craft renders métier in the literary context. [On] renders contextual à at the wholly lost word before l’âme. [Verve] and [Intelligence] represent […]erve and intel[…]igence. [The] represents the damaged article in […]’âme; the noun soul is intact. No lost French component is restored.

T80.The source’s third paragraph repeats and qualifies the preceding classifications. It remains separate. The article before sagesse survives as […]a, contextually la; English wisdom requires no article here, so it has no separate bracketed English counterpart. The French loss remains visible, and the intact verve and intelligence remain unbracketed.

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.