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 7352

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Facing Pages · Branch 3571 of 4529

YEAR 1815 · Entry 7352

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 7141

[…]9 mars.

De la lumière. Lumière sèche, lumière humide, lumière chaude. […]Elle est moins nette, mais elle a beaucoup plus d’effet.) Lumière […]roide. C’est celle de l’élégance artificielle, qui vient d’une habileté […]ans génie et d’un goût sans enthousiasme.

Lafontaine. C’est lui dont le goût n’est jamais sans enthousiasme; […]i celui de Fontanes non plus, dans les vers qu’il a faits malgré lui.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1815

p. 7142

March […]9.

Of light. Dry light, moist light, warm light. (It is less clear, but has much more effect.) [Cold] light. This is the light of artificial elegance, which comes from skill [without] genius and taste without enthusiasm.

Lafontaine. It is he whose taste is never without enthusiasm; [nor] is Fontanes’s either, in the verses he made despite himself.

T177.The nominal sequences preserve all four qualities of light. The parenthetic less/much-more contrast remains without assigning its pronoun more narrowly than the immediate sequence allows. The final elegance/skill/genius/taste/enthusiasm relations retain both without terms. The English opening parenthesis is an explicitly conjectural punctuation counterpart to a damaged span before intact Elle; its closing partner is printed. No missing lexical word is inferred there. [Cold] and [without] contextually complete […]roide and […]ans. The date retains only the suffix 9 after an unresolved initial loss.

T541.Only terminal 9 is retained from the damaged date. The preceding glyph’s disrupted upper and lower components do not certify a complete 2; no full 29 is restored from the date sequence. Before Elle, the damaged margin has incomplete detached strokes compatible with lost opening punctuation, but no complete opening parenthesis is certified and the extent remains unknown. The explicit gap does not assert a missing lexical word. The later closing parenthesis after d’effet. is intact. At the next openings only roide and ans remain complete; f/s are not restored. The second paragraph retains Lafontaine as one word and the distinct Fontanes spelling. Only i is complete before celui; no n is supplied. The repeated light qualities, less/much-more comparison, both sans phrases, ne...jamais, non plus, perfect faits and malgré lui remain. All text is roman.

T178.The separate name, cleft emphasis, never-without and nor/either relation remain. The limiting verse clause and despite himself preserve malgré lui rather than turning it into ease or effortlessness. This is the second paragraph of the same dated unit. [Nor] contextually completes the damaged […]i; the day remains the same partial date as the preceding paragraph.

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.