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 1814 · Entry 7035

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English Page · Branch 3254 of 4529

YEAR 1814 · Entry 7035

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 6507

18 juin.

Du style boursoufflé. Le style boursoufflé fait poche partout. Les pensées y sont peu attachées au sujet, et les paroles aux pensées. Il y a entre tout cela de l’air, du vuide ou trop d’espace. L’épithète boursoufflé, appliquée au style, est une des plus hardies, mais des plus justes métaphores qu’on ait jamais hazardées. Aussi tout le monde l’entend et personne ne s’en étonne.

Le style enflé est autre chose. Il a plus de consistance que l’autre. Il est plus plein. Mais sa plénitude est difforme ou du moins excessive. Il est trop gros ou trop gras ou même trop grand.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1814

p. 6508

June 18.

Of puffy style. Puffy style bulges into pockets everywhere. Thoughts in it are loosely attached to the subject, and words to thoughts. Between all these there is air, emptiness or too much space. The epithet puffy, applied to style, is one of the boldest but most fitting metaphors ever ventured. Accordingly everyone understands it and no one is astonished by it.

Swollen style is something else. It has more substance than the other. It is fuller. But its fullness is misshapen or at least excessive. It is too bulky or too fat or even too large.

T201.Puffy renders boursoufflé as a physical metaphor, kept distinct from swollen in the next paragraph. Bulges into pockets preserves fait poche as bagging or pouching, rather than making a literal pocket. Only the later metalinguistic puffy corresponds to the source’s italic epithet. The repeated relations among thoughts, subject and words, and boldest/fitting contrast remain. The Académie dictionary of 1798 records boursouflé figuratively of style and poches for the large false folds of badly cut clothes. These support the physical image; the distinction from swollen is developed by Joubert’s own next paragraph. Only the third boursoufflé and its later English counterpart puffy are italic, with the comma outside the italic span. The French historical spellings vuide and hazardées remain unchanged.

T508.Both source paragraphs stay within the same unit. Only the metalinguistic third boursoufflé is italic, selected by literal occurrence 3; its following comma is roman. Its wrapped initial s is identifiable despite thin detached margin marks. Vuide retains ui and hazardées retains z. The source has peu, the paired superlatives, negative personne ne and all three final degrees/alternatives. The complete date, a after intact Il y, and later Il/excessive openings retain identifiable letters rather than inferred gaps.

T202.Swollen keeps enflé distinct from boursoufflé. Substance gives consistance its contrast with the preceding air and emptiness. Fuller/fullness, at least and the three successive dimensions remain. The second paragraph is not merged with the first.

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.