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 IIAccording to Plato · Entry 6700

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Facing Pages · Branch 2919 of 4529

According to Plato · Entry 6700

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5837

[…] septembre.

Le comique naît du sérieux (du sérieux du personnage). Le pathé[…]que naît de la patience ou du repos (du repos de celui qui souffre). […] n’y a donc point de comique sans gravité ni de pathétique sans […]dération. Pour être comique, celui qui fait rire doit ignorer qu’il […]t risible. Pour être pathétique, celui qui pleure doit ignorer (ou […]tenir) ses propres larmes. Celui qui communique son propre rire […]est que plaisant. Regnard est gai, Molière est comique. Un valet […]eut être plaisant (voyez Scapin); son maître doit être comique (voyez […]rgante).

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: According to Plato

p. 5838

September […].

The comic arises from seriousness (the character’s seriousness). [Pathos] arises from patience or repose (the repose of the sufferer). [There] is therefore no comic without gravity, nor pathos without [moderation]. To be comic, the one who makes us laugh must not know he [is] laughable. To be moving, the one who weeps must not know of (or must [restrain]) his own tears. Someone who communicates his own laughter [is] merely amusing. Regnard is merry, Molière is comic. A servant [can] be amusing (see Scapin); his master must be comic (see [Argante]).

T210.Comic, amusing and merry preserve three judgments. Pathos and moving render the rhetorical pathetic family without its modern dismissive sense. The comic figure’s ignorance and the alternative restraint remain distinct; the two named references and parentheses are not expanded into an unverified scene identification. [Pathos], [moderation], [is] before laughable, [restrain], [can] and [Argante] contextually render pathétique, modération, est, retenir, peut and Argante from their damaged forms. [There] supplies the contextual lost Il in the impersonal Il y a construction. The later [is] renders damaged n’est contextually; intact que supplies the restrictive merely, so the bracket does not imply doubt about the surviving restriction. The September day is wholly lost.

T595.The day is wholly lost. Both naît tokens retain a qualified circumflex reading: the raised form is compressed/merged with the tall i stroke and does not permit a wholly certain diacritic contour. The broken pathétique ending, initial subject, and other interrupted word openings remain explicit. Before dération, the preceding curved remnant does not certify a full o. The complete que remains even though its negative opening is damaged. The qualified r/g forms in rgante survive, without restoring A.

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.