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 7171

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Facing Pages · Branch 3390 of 4529

YEAR 1814 · Entry 7171

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 6779

16 décembre.

Un jugement sans mémoire (ou sans scavoir), dans l’écrivain. Se[…] inconvéniens. Autant vaudrait presque une mémoire sans jugemen[…] — Et Nota : 2° que l’imagination est une seconde mémoire, un[…] mémoire ornée. Sans imagination, la mémoire n’est point complett[…] L’imagination est une mémoire effectrice, une mémoire colorant[…] figurante.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1814

p. 6780

December 16.

Judgment without memory (or without knowledge), in a writer. [Its] disadvantages. A memory without [judgment] would almost do as well. — And Note: 2° that imagination is a second memory, [an] adorned memory. Without imagination, memory is not [complete]. Imagination is a memory that produces, a memory that [colors] and gives form.

T74.The opening fragments, knowledge alternative, almost and reversed memory/judgment relation remain. Note and the internal 2° stay inside the same paragraph; no first numbered item is invented. [Its], [judgment], [an], [complete] and [colors] contextually render Se[…], jugemen[…], un[…], complett[…] and colorant[…]. The possessive remains qualified and does not uniquely identify its owner. English sentence divisions and the coordination colors and gives form do not recover punctuation or a conjunction at the damaged endings. Produces renders the unusual effectrice as bringing about effects, distinct from mere recollection; the complete later nineteenth-century Littré entry supports this sense. This is a later electronic lexical control, not a period Académie attestation, an original dictionary image or evidence of Joubert’s source. The French emphasizes Nota alone, with its colon roman, and effectrice through the following comma. English correspondingly emphasizes Note alone and that produces through its comma: the relative clause renders the single French adjective. The surrounding memory and the later color/form description remain roman.

T201.The clear 16 décembre date owns this one physical paragraph. The parenthetic alternative, writer qualification, almost comparison, internal dash and unexplained inline 2° remain; no missing 1° or new paragraph is supplied. Scavoir and the conditional spelling vaudrait remain literal. The right-edge losses after Se, jugemen, un, complett and colorant are marked without supplying letters or uncertain following punctuation. The source preserves two t letters in complett before its lost ending. The surviving e/n/t contours are degraded but identifiable in the color/native comparison; no sentence ending or coordinating comma is invented at the damaged edge. Nota alone is italic with the following colon roman. Effectrice is italic through its following comma; the surrounding mémoire and later descriptors are roman. Both exact emphasis boundaries were read in the original-size color crop; the bounded independent comparison now agrees with the narrow ending limits and style boundary, retaining all contour qualifications.

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.