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 6513

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French Page · Branch 2732 of 4529

1812 · Entry 6513

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5463

Ce sont là des leçons d’histoire données avec le scalpel. En la […]ant dans cet esprit, on y trouveroit perpétuellement quelque chose […] observer, mais rien à aimer ou à haïr. C’est un herbier où l’on ne […]it que des plantes desséchées, avec des observations sur leur struc[…]re. C’est un théâtre d’anatomie où, sous l’étiquette de quelques noms, […]us la datte de quelques faits, se trouve l’inutile et minutieuse des[…]iption de quelques esprits. Véritable [ontogénie], névrologie, myo[…]gie d’évenemens et de caractères, dissection des temps passés. La […]inture en seroit meilleure ou pour le moins plus agréable et par […]la même plus fructueuse.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: 1812

p. 5464

These are lessons in history given with the scalpel. In [reading] it in this spirit, one would continually find something [to] observe, but nothing to love or hate. It is a herbarium in which one [sees] only dried plants, with observations on their [structure]. It is an anatomical theater where, under the label of a few names, [under] the date of a few facts, is found the useless and minute [description] of a few minds. True [ontogeny], neurology, [myology] of events and characters, dissection of times past. The [painting] of them would be better or at least more pleasant and by [that] very fact more fruitful.

S1.Source editor’s annotationIn Joubert’s extremely badly written text one reads, orltologie, a word that does not exist. I take the liberty of correcting it.

T346.The scalpel, herbarium, anatomical theater, dissection and painting remain distinct images. Contextual [reading], [to], [sees], [structure], [under], [description], [myology], [painting] and [that] render lisant, à, voit, structure, sous, description, myologie, peinture and cela from the damaged words. The French letters remain unsupplied. [Ontogeny] translates the source editor’s bracketed [ontogénie], an emendation rather than a recovered authorial word; its source note call stays inside the closing bracket. The editor’s opaque alternative is separately qualified in the apparatus. No familiar technical term is silently substituted.

T352.The first-person I is Beaunier’s in the separate source apparatus. His claim about the manuscript and his correction are not independently certified by this translation. The opaque italic orltologie is retained as provisionally read from the damaged reproduction; a familiar anatomical term is not substituted. The main [ontogeny] remains visibly the source editor’s emendation.

T630.The left-edge losses before ant, observer, it, re after struc, us la datte, iption after des, gie after myo, inture, and la même remain explicit. The possible e before inture is only a detached right-side remnant and does not establish a full glyph. Datte has double t and is not normalized. The source editor’s square-bracketed ontogénie and its raised call inside the closing bracket remain; neither is presented as unmediated manuscript text. The nominal anatomy catalogue and the repeated comparison remain.

T631.The opaque italic form is provisionally read orltologie: its third glyph is tall and undotted like l, and the following glyph has a t-like ascender/cross-stroke. Reproduction damage and surrounding horizontal artifacts require this glyph qualification; no familiar technical term is substituted. The editor explicitly describes his correction in the first person. The thin doubled horizontal traces after the line-final mot resemble nearby artifacts and do not certify a lexical hyphen; the intact mot and next-line qui are retained.

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.