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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 6440

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Facing Pages · Branch 2659 of 4529

1812 · Entry 6440

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5317

[28 septembre.]

« Lorsqu’on ne voyoit dans la sculpture, non plus que dans la peinture qu’un moyen de raconter, pour ainsi dire, des faits, on devoit préférer le bas-relief sur lequel se passe toute une scène... [etc.]... A peine eût on compris alors le critique qui seroit venu dire que la figure de l’homme nuë, isolée, considérée dans le rapport admirable que ses parties ont entre elles est l’objet principal de la sculpture... [etc.]... » (N. B. Journal de l’Empire, 28 septembre 1812.) Ont entre elles : surtout dans les diverses affections dont l’âme peut être pénétrée. Sans cela on ne fait qu’un plâtre, un corps moulé et non pas un corps habité.

Mon expression corps habité. On ne nous peint que trop de corps sans âme. Les plus habiles, comme Gérard, prennent la vie pour dernier but et ne font que des corps vivans. Et il ne suffit pas même, pour atteindre à l’objet et parvenir à son utilité et à sa beauté, qu’un personnage semble animé d’une passion comme peut l’être un animal, mais d’une passion où l’âme spirituelle participe. Tout peintre […]t tout statuaire qui ne montre pas et ne prouve pas par ses figures […]mmatérialité et l’immortalité de l’âme n’a point fait d’ouvrages […]aiment beaux. Les âmes animales sont le partage de Gérard. Il s’est […]rêté là; il n’a point atteint ses limites.

« La pose, l’objet le plus important de la composition en sculp[…]re », dit Mʳ B. Parce que c’est par la pose que ce qu’on veut […]primer est bien ou mal mis au grand jour.

En effet, « l’afféterie et le gracieux » se tiennent de bien près et […]squent de se toucher et de se confondre, surtout lorsque « le sujet » […]t « pris dans une nature encore tendre ». (Vide locum.) Il ne faut […]rendre l’une pour l’autre ni quand on opère ni quand on juge.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: 1812

p. 5318

[September 28.]

“When one saw in sculpture, no more than in painting, merely a means of telling, so to speak, facts, one had to prefer the bas-relief on which an entire scene takes place... [etc.]... One would scarcely have understood then the critic who would have come to say that the human figure, naked, isolated, considered in the admirable relation its parts have to one another, is the principal object of sculpture... [etc.]...” (N. B. Journal de l’Empire, September 28, 1812.) Have to one another: above all in the various affections with which the soul can be filled. Without this, one makes only a plaster cast, a molded body and not an inhabited body.

My expression inhabited body. Far too many bodies without souls are painted for us. The most skillful, like Gérard, take life as their ultimate goal and make only living bodies. And even to attain the object and arrive at its utility and beauty, it is not enough that a figure seem animated by a passion as an animal can be, but by a passion in which the spiritual soul participates. Every painter [and] every sculptor who does not show and does not prove through his figures the soul’s [immateriality] and immortality has made no [truly] beautiful works. Animal souls are Gérard’s province. He has [stopped] there; he has not reached his limits.

“The pose, the most important object of composition in [sculpture],” says Mr. B. Because it is through the pose that what one wishes to [express] is well or badly brought into full light.

Indeed, “affectation and grace” are very close and [risk] touching and merging, above all when “the subject” [is] “taken from a nature still tender.” (See the passage.) One must not [take] one for the other, either when creating or when judging.

T251.The quotation, bracketed omissions, newspaper cue and repeated have to one another remain. The critic’s would have come preserves the conditional seroit venu. The second have to one another adds the relation to affections of the soul; no merely anatomical interpretation replaces it. Plaster cast renders plâtre as the made object. Native French nuë has two dots over e and agrees with figure; human figure, naked preserves this attachment without an added male qualifier. The newspaper issue is not claimed as independently inspected, and its bibliographical date remains distinct from Beaunier’s bracketed entry date. Both repeated relational phrases retain their source emphasis.

T556.The source-editor date [28 septembre.] remains bracketed. Four paragraphs form one entry; paragraph 2 continues onto page 729, where paragraphs 3–4 also occur. The Journal date is bibliographical within paragraph 1, not a new heading. Both [etc.] spans and their following ellipses remain. The punctuation after scène is qualified for right-edge abrasion. Native glyphs show two separate dots over e in nuë; the literal feminine agreement with figure is not regularized. A peine eût on retains the absence of a hyphen. The italic ont entre elles / Ont entre elles and corps habité retain their exact case and scope. On page 729 the left margin removes the openings represented by […]t before tout, […]mmatérialité, […]aiment and […]rêté. The surviving m/a/r contours are qualified for clipping; the missing et / l’immatérialité / vraiment / arrêté components are contextual possibilities only, not recovered wording. Both intact ne...que formulations and final n’a point remain. The wrapped sculp- continues across a damaged opening before re; sculp[…]re does not certify ture. The other damaged beginnings are […]primer, […]squent, […]t before pris and […]rendre. Exprimer / risquent / est / prendre are contextual possibilities only. The remaining t/r contours are themselves qualified for abrasion. Mʳ B. and Vide locum are not expanded.

T252.The repeated inhabited/living bodies, both negated show/prove verbs and final not reached his limits remain. The latter is not reversed because of the surrounding criticism. The dependent but by a passion stays without an inserted governing verb. [And], [immateriality], [truly] and [stopped] interpret damaged et, l’immatérialité, vraiment and arrêté on the page 729 continuation. The lost article before immateriality has no separate word after the possessive soul’s; the intact immortality remains outside the bracket. Only the initial inhabited body is italic, as in the source.

T253.The quoted nominal phrase and dependent Because remain, with repeated pose and full-light image. [Sculpture] and [express] interpret the interrupted sculp[…]re and […]primer contextually; the missing letters are not certified. Mr. B. remains abbreviated and unidentified.

T254.All three separate quoted spans remain, including taken from a nature still tender. The touching/merging images and creating/judging distinction remain. Grace renders substantival le gracieux without erasing its contrast with affectation. [Risk], [is] and [take] interpret risquent, est and prendre at the damaged beginnings. English not represents the intact French ne; no extra French negative is restored. The complete italic See the passage. translates Vide locum. as a direction, not a claim that the witness was located. The source’s l’une/l’autre comparison is not replaced by new named objects.

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.