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 6377

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Facing Pages · Branch 2596 of 4529

1812 · Entry 6377

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5191

[…] mai.

...Embélir les grandes familles en forçant leurs héritiers à n’épou[…]r que de belles femmes. Politique. (Voy. Perses, pag. 232.) Les […]tres n’eurent pas ce soin. Nos grands n’avoient plus même sur le […]uple ces avantages de la bonne mine qui donnent tant d’autorité.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: 1812

p. 5192

May […].

... Beautify the great families by forcing their heirs to [marry] only beautiful women. Politics. (See Persians, p. 232.) [Ours] took no such care. Our grandees no longer had even those advantages of a fine appearance over the [people] that give so much authority.

S1.Source editor’s annotationEverything that follows, under the date May 1, 1812, comes from several undated sheets that form a series: on this basis, in dating one, I date the others. The one I date contains this thought of Plato’s: “Light is the shadow of God,” a thought also found in the notebook under May 1. In the notebook it is not attributed to Plato. But under that same date, May 1, at the end of the notebook, there is this announcement: “May 1, 1812. Plato.” some quotations from Plato follow.

T166.The leading ellipsis, coercive prescription, Politics fragment and printed reference remain. Grandees expresses social rank without moral praise. [Marry] and [people] interpret the residues as épouser and peuple. [Ours] reads Les […]tres contextually as Les nôtres, taking the next Our grandees as support; autres, others, is also compatible with the surviving ending. The broader English bracket includes the intact French article, which has no separate counterpart in ours. Perses remains an unlocated abbreviated reference; no title or edition is supplied. Beaunier’s May 1 assignment belongs to his separate apparatus, not a recovered authorial date.

T175.Beaunier assigns the first six entries on source page 721 to May 1, 1812 by association and sequence, although the separate sheets are undated and the main heading’s day is damaged. His first-person inference remains separate from Joubert’s text. The notebook occurrence lacks Plato’s name, while the separate-paper occurrence supplies it; the later Plato announcement is another explicitly distinguished fact. English keeps the lower-case some after the quotation as the source does with suivent.

T486.Full page and original-resolution left strips inspected. The day before mai is lost; the source editor’s May 1 assignment in apparatus 1 is not a recovered authorial date. Its scope is this and the following five entries. Embélir retains the printed acute and one l. The damaged wrapped ending n’épou[…]r and the residues […]tres / […]uple do not certify the missing letters; épouser, nôtres and peuple are contextual possibilities only. The opening ellipsis and unexpanded Perses reference remain.

T487.The editor assigns May 1, 1812 by analogy and sequence to six entries on otherwise undated separate leaves. This is an editorial assignment, not recovery of the damaged main date or a date printed on each leaf. The first three er components are raised in 1ᵉʳ; the final quoted 1er has baseline letters. The lower-case suivent after the quotation remains. The left initials in feuillets/date/lumière/la are abraded; the surviving strokes support the selected readings but their complete contours cannot be certified.

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.