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 6781

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French Page · Branch 3000 of 4529

According to Plato · Entry 6781

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5999

Clarté d’un livre. Il y a des idées qui paroissent claires […] et qui cessent de l’être quand on veut s’en ressouvenir. C’est qu’elles ne sont pas en harmonie avec les clartés de notre esprit. Elles ne sont que des clartés individuelles d’une vérité phantastique. C’est la lumière d’un tableau, une lumière feinte et peinte, une lumière artificielle.

On trouve en effet dans certains livres des lumières artificielles, assés semblables à celles des tableaux et qui se font par la même sorte de méchanisme, en amoncelant les obscurités dans certaines parties, et en les délayant dans d’autres. Il naît de là une certaine magie de clair-obscur qui n’éclaire rien, mais qui paroît donner quelque clarté à la page où elle se trouve et qui seroit plus véritablement éclairée si tout le papier étoit blanc.

Ce qu’on appelle clair dans un tableau n’est pas du clair propre[…]nt dit, mais de l’obscur mis en opposition avec du sombre. On […]ut ainsi innocemment tromper l’esprit avec des paroles.

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

p. 6000

The clarity of a book. There are ideas that seem clear […] and cease to be so when one wishes to recall them. This is because they are not in harmony with the clarities of our mind. They are only individual clarities of a fantastic truth. It is the light of a painting, a feigned and painted light, an artificial light.

One does indeed find in certain books artificial lights, quite like those in paintings and produced by the same sort of mechanism, by piling up obscurities in some parts and diluting them in others. From this arises a certain magic of chiaroscuro that illuminates nothing, but seems to give some clarity to the page on which it is found, and which would be more truly illuminated if all the paper were white.

What is called light in a painting is not light, [properly] speaking, but the obscure set against the dark. One [can] thus innocently deceive the mind with words.

T308.The explicit gap is not filled. Clear/clarities/light and their repetitions remain, as do seeming, remembering and harmony. Fantastic may mean imagined or illusory here rather than excellent; the feigned/painted wordplay is retained.

T671.All three paragraphs remain separate, with only the last continuing onto page 763. The bracketed ellipsis after claires is already printed and is distinct from the two newly marked reproduction losses. Phantastique, assés and méchanisme remain literal. Native page 763 preserves only nt after the propre wrap; the preceding m/e-like fragments do not certify complete letters. The next damaged opening preserves only ut. No peut or proprement is recovered in French. The several clarté/lumière/obscur/sombre terms, full negative and restrictive ne…que remain.

T309.The lights/obscurities/clarity images, piling/diluting contrast, nothing and only-seeming effect remain. Chiaroscuro retains the art term clair-obscur. The final conditional white-paper comparison is not replaced by a general maxim about obscurity.

T310.The single paragraph continues onto page 763. Light renders nominal clair in the painting context while the preceding clarity keeps its intellectual relation. Obscure and dark retain obscur/sombre as distinct relative shades. [Properly] and [can] interpret proprement and peut from propre[…]nt and […]ut; speaking renders intact dit outside the bracket. The final innocently and possibility remain. These reproduction losses are distinct from the earlier printed bracketed ellipsis.

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.