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 1815 · Entry 7261

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French Page · Branch 3480 of 4529

YEAR 1815 · Entry 7261

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 6959

I. Mʳ de Beausset a retrouvé le fil perdu de la narration continuë; ce fil ductile qui se plie et se replie en mille manières sans se brouiller, sans se rompre et sans se nouër.

II. Une élégance simple, une facilité soignée, une sagesse sobre, une modération vraie, rien de cherché : voilà ce qui est rare aujourd’hui, ou plutôt ce qu’on ne voit plus, et ce qui le distingue.

III. Dans Fénelon, il avoit à enchâsser des perles et il les a entourées plus richement; ici il avoit à montrer des blocs, et il les a plus isolés, cultivant des muses sévères.

Ses citations sont dans le cours de son récit comme des îles toutes pleines de monumens.

En le lisant on croit descendre un fleuve et faire un voyage en bateau par un beau temps et dans un beau pays. Le siècle qu’il traverse est montré à droite et à gauche... Dessinant ce qu’il circonscrit. Etc.

Il a rendu son caractère au genre tempéré, genre qui est seul classique ou du moins seul scholastique. — Nous ramener aux beautés saines qui charment l’âme sans en altérer la lumière, sans la troubler par des passions.

Il lui faut (au siècle présent), il lui faut des vertus plus molles où il puisse soupçonner quelques blessures, des vertus plus malades et dont il puisse avoir pitié.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1815

p. 6960

I. Mr. de Beausset has rediscovered the lost thread of continuous narrative; that ductile thread which bends and bends again in a thousand ways without tangling, without breaking and without knotting.

II. A simple elegance, an ease achieved with care, a sober wisdom, a true moderation, nothing contrived: that is what is rare today, or rather what we no longer see, and what distinguishes him.

III. In Fénelon, he had pearls to set, and he surrounded them more richly; here he had blocks to show, and he set them farther apart, cultivating austere muses.

His quotations lie in the course of his narrative like islands all full of monuments.

Reading him, one seems to descend a river and make a journey by boat in fine weather and through a beautiful country. The century he passes through is shown to right and left... Sketching what he encompasses. Etc.

He has restored its character to the temperate style, the only style that is classical, or at least the only one that is scholastic. — To bring us back to wholesome beauties that charm the soul without altering its light, without troubling it with passions.

It needs (the present century), it needs softer virtues in which it may suspect some wounds, virtues more ailing and which it may pity.

T49.The thread remains a physical metaphor, with ductility, both bend verbs, a thousand and all three without clauses. Continuous renders continuë. The source’s name spelling is retained without supplying a book title.

T447.Seven paragraphs remain one unit. Roman I/II/III are printed only at the first three paragraph openings; the next four are unnumbered. The title before de Beausset has a raised small r. Original-size color shows continuë and nouër with paired upper e components, qualified for soft contours; no name or title expansion is made in the French source. The ductile-thread imagery keeps plie/replie, mille and all three sans. The second paragraph retains its four indefinite formulations, negative rien, colon and ou plutôt correction. The third preserves the earlier/later comparison, avoit versus perfect a forms and both plus placements. The fourth paragraph retains îles with a compressed circumflex-like component, qualified rather than normalized, and monumens. The fifth retains two beau formulations, the three-dot printed ellipsis after gauche, the separate participial Dessinant fragment and Etc. within the same paragraph. The sixth distinctly prints rendu, not the preliminary map’s perdu, with seul repeated and the infinitive Nous ramener after the dash. Both sans phrases remain. The seventh repeats il lui faut around the parenthesis, with two comparative plus forms, quelques and the final relative relation. Original-size color and the complete page support these readings; the bounded independent comparison of the named upper-mark/verb/type targets agrees at the stated qualified level.

T50.The five-part description, today/no-longer self-correction and concluding distinction remain. Care is the force of soignée; nothing contrived retains the negative rien de cherché without implying absence of labor.

T51.Both had-to constructions describe the biographer’s material, without inventing a new command. Pearls, blocks, richer setting and greater isolation retain their contrast. The named Fénelon is not expanded to an independently identified edition or work title.

T52.Course preserves the narrative/river double sense developed in the next paragraph. All full retains toutes pleines rather than omitting its fullness or plural scope. The islands and monuments remain concrete; no particular quotations or monuments are identified.

T53.The river, boat, weather and country remain, followed by the source ellipsis, participial fragment and Etc. The final ce qu’il circonscrit makes il the subject that encompasses, not the object being surrounded. He is a contextual reading of the implicit writer; it, referring to the masculine century or another preceding nonpersonal image, remains possible. The fragment’s own implicit agent is not independently identified. The unenhanced native-size crop confirms the active pronoun relation.

T54.The complete color page reads a rendu; the topology’s preliminary a perdu incipit is not adopted. Temperate style preserves genre tempéré as a category of writing rather than a person’s temperament. Both only terms retain seul…seul. Classical/scholastic retain the source’s corrective distinction; scholastic may concern suitability for schools, not exclusively medieval philosophy. The closing infinitive, two without clauses and the soul’s light remain.

T55.The interrupted subject explanation and repeated needs remain. Both comparisons and the two possible responses are retained. Ailing virtues preserves the bodily personification; no named person’s illness is inferred.

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.