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 7193

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French Page · Branch 3412 of 4529

YEAR 1814 · Entry 7193

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 6823

Les sallons sont des salles accadémiques et même des écoles. On n’y converse pas, on y argumente. Celui qui parle, le dos au feu, y est comme en chaire. Celui qui écoute y est sur les bancs, quoique assis dans un bon fauteuil; toute matière y sert de thèse.

On y est jugé. On y prend ses degrés. On y professe quand les dés de la dispute en amènent l’occasion. On y voit des docteurs, régents de tout costume et de tout sexe, de tout âge, de tout pays, de tout systhème.

Le bon goût des comptoirs y règne. La polémique y règle tout. Pour figures de rhétorique, on a celles du syllogisme dans toutes leurs variétés; la supputation y domine. Les beautés y sont assignées et les valeurs littéraires y sont taxées par l’esprit qui fait les banquiers.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1814

p. 6824

Salons are academic halls and even schools. One does not converse there; one argues. The speaker, with his back to the fire, is there as though in a pulpit. The listener is there on the benches, though seated in a good armchair; every subject serves there as a thesis.

One is judged there. One takes one’s degrees there. One lectures there when the dice of dispute bring the opportunity. One sees there doctors, teachers of every dress and every sex, of every age, every country, every system.

The good taste of countinghouses reigns there. Polemic governs everything there. For figures of rhetoric one has those of the syllogism in all their varieties; calculation dominates there. Beauties are assigned there, and literary values are appraised by the same spirit that makes bankers.

T104.The academic comparison, even, converse/argue opposition and speaker/listener contrast remain. Pulpit contextually renders chaire, whose teaching-chair sense also fits the academic metaphor. The listener’s imagined bench and actual armchair are not collapsed. French sallons and accadémiques retain their printed doubled letters; ordinary English spelling does not emend them.

T223.Three separately indented paragraphs remain under one separator. Sallons has ll, accadémiques has cc and systhème retains its h; no orthographic normalization is applied. Paragraph 2’s dés has a raised mark supporting acute é, not a silently substituted preposition. The first paragraph retains even, the not-converse/argue contrast, the parenthetic back-to-fire phrase, the two chair/bench comparisons and the concessive quoique. Paragraph 2 keeps its four opening On y constructions and five de tout forms. Paragraph 3 preserves the commercial, debating and accounting vocabulary rather than conflating it into one generic criticism. The folded starts n’y/est/assis/de/de/systhème/figures/variétés/valeurs retain recognizable complete foreground structures in the color original. They are qualified for abrasion, not reconstructed from their grammatical positions.

T105.The four repeated there formulations, academic degree/doctor/teacher terms and the dice metaphor remain. Teachers renders régents in the school context; doctors is an academic title, not a new medical reference. All five every categories are kept. The French systhème retains its h; the English title doctors does not reproduce an orthographic variant.

T106.The countinghouse/banker comparison and repeated there remain. Appraised renders taxées contextually as assessed values, not an asserted fiscal tax. Figures of rhetoric and syllogism retain their technical contrast, with all varieties and everything preserved.

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.