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.

Explore the Lexicon

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume IIYEAR 1818 · Entry 7908

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

Facing Pages · Branch 4127 of 4529

YEAR 1818 · Entry 7908

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 8253

Le verre et ses merveilles. L’étonnement de l’oiseau qui voit au […]ravers de la vitre une mouche qu’il veut pincer et que son bec ne peut pas atteindre.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1818

p. 8254

Glass and its marvels. The astonishment of the bird that sees [through] the pane a fly it wants to seize and that its beak cannot reach.

T160.The nominal opening and astonishment, seeing/wanting/cannot relation and beak remain. [Through] contextually renders the whole au […]ravers de construction, including intact au and de: the English bracket is broader than the lost initial component and does not certify a French t. The source retains peut with its stated color-witness qualification; cannot therefore receives no additional loss bracket. Seize contextually renders pincer as the intended beak action, without replacing the fly with a general object. The single paragraph continues onto 881 before the next separator.

T384.This single undated paragraph continues at 881 before a centered separator. Only ravers is secure at its first incoming line: no complete t is visible in the original-size color/native 413 opening, so the lost component remains marked without reconstructing travers. The next peut has a faint but identifiable foreground p stem/bowl in color; its left stem is lost in the binarized native, so the intact word is retained with that witness limitation. The bird/fly/glass image, desire and negative possibility remain without a supplied governing predicate for the nominal opening. All text is roman. The source specialist’s facsimile collation records the 880 Roman paragraph sequence, printed supplements, upper e components and moût, alkool/authorité, call position, complete apparatus and the distinct incoming 881 ravers/peut limits, with all stated individual reading qualifications retained.

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.