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 IIYEAR 1805 · Entry 3811

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French Page · Branch 30 of 4529

YEAR 1805 · Entry 3811

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 59

21 janvier.

Vers. Poësie. Il faut que chaque mot y tienne l’esprit suspendu.

C’est proprement un charme; il rend l’âme attentive Ou plutôt il la tient captive. (La Fontaine.)

Ces mots terreux et enfoncés dans ce qu’ils disent.

unius ab ore pendent.

Une surprise, — quand on voit tout à coup un mot vulgaire devenu si beau, un mot usé devenu nouveau.

Comme des verres de couleur, — l’illumination et l’harmonie.

« La musique de l’âme ». N’a besoin d’être dans l’oreille que parce qu’il ne faut pas que le sens et le son se contrarient.

« Comment en un or pur le plomb s’est-il changé? » (Parodie de Racine.)

La justesse du sens...

Que chaque mot ait un son et un sens tellement net que l’attention s’y arrête avec plaisir et s’en détache avec facilité pour passer aux mots qui suivent et où un autre plaisir l’attend.

Figurez-vous dans l’esprit une qualité qui amollit dans les mots tout ce qui est dur, y rend clair tout ce qui est obscur et coloré tout ce qui est sombre.

Le poëte a un souffle qui enfle les mots, les rend légers et leur donne de la couleur : une teinture, une liqueur, comme ce nectar de l’abeille qui change en miel la poussière des fleurs.

Faire voltiger les mots.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1805

p. 60

January 21.

Verse. Poetry. Each word in it must hold the mind suspended.

It is a spell in the strict sense; it makes the soul attentive Or rather holds it captive. (La Fontaine.)

These earthy words, sunk into what they say.

they hang upon the lips of one.

A surprise, — when one suddenly sees a common word become so beautiful, a worn word become new.

Like colored glass, — illumination and harmony.

“The music of the soul.” Needs to be in the ear only because meaning and sound must not work against each other.

“How has lead been changed into pure gold?” (Parody of Racine.)

The rightness of meaning...

Let each word have a sound and a meaning so clear that attention rests on it with pleasure and detaches itself with ease to pass to the words that follow, where another pleasure awaits it.

Picture in the mind a quality that softens in words all that is hard, makes clear all that is obscure in them, and colors all that is dark.

The poet has a breath that swells words, makes them light, and gives them color: a tincture, a liquor, like that nectar of the bee that changes the dust of flowers into honey.

To make words flutter.

T308.The two verse lines in paragraph 2 remain line-broken within one paragraph; the La Fontaine attribution remains on the second line. Lowercase unius begins the separate italic Latin paragraph. The finite N’a follows the fragmentary quotation La musique de l’âme without an additional subject.

T68.The two lines come from the dedication to Madame de Montespan opening book VII of La Fontaine’s Fables. Charme is rendered spell in the sense of enchantment, developed by attentive and captive. The translation preserves two lines and Joubert’s own punctuation and attribution placement, without borrowing an existing English version.

T69.The Latin literally depicts hanging from the mouth or lips of one person: listening with rapt attention. The English retains the plural subject implicit in pendent, without identifying the listeners or adding an attribution not supplied here. Its suspension echoes the mind held suspended above.

T70.The plural verres is read as pieces or panes of colored glass, which give illumination and harmony. Colored glass uses the English material noun rather than implying spectacles or drinking glasses.

T71.The detached Needs clause follows the source’s missing subject after the quoted nominal phrase. Meaning and sound must not oppose one another; the source gives this as the reason the soul’s music needs to be in the ear.

T72.Joubert explicitly labels the line a parody. Racine’s Athalie, III.7, asks how pure gold has become base lead; Joubert reverses the transformation so that lead becomes pure gold. The English follows Joubert’s reversal.

T73.The breath swells and lightens the words, then gives way to tincture and liquor. Liquor has the older broad sense of liquid. The dust of flowers remains the source’s phrase; the account of nectar changing it into honey is not modernized into a biological explanation.

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.