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 1820 · Entry 8110

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Facing Pages · Branch 4329 of 4529

YEAR 1820 · Entry 8110

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 8657

[…]3 juin.

Oui, il faut que le grand écrivain étudie les langues pour les rendre […]uelquefois (comme il dit) « non plus précises, mais plus vagues, non […]our éviter les équivoques, mais pour les multiplier et s’en faire un […]rt scavant d’illusions » (qui ne soient pas des mensonges). Il faut […]nfin, pour la rendre plus céleste (mot dont lui-même se sert sou[…]ent) placer la vérité dans les nuages que chaque imagination puisse […]olorer (et envisager) à son gré. C’est un des grands secrets de l’art.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1820

p. 8658

June […]3.

Yes, the great writer must study languages in order [sometimes] to make them (as he says) “not more precise, but vaguer, not [to] avoid ambiguities, but to multiply them and make of them a learned [art] of illusions” (which are not lies). [Finally], to make truth more celestial (a word he himself [often] uses), one must place it in clouds that each imagination can [color] (and envisage) as it pleases. It is one of the great secrets of art.

S1.Source editor’s annotationOn Thursday, June 1, a drawing. In the middle, a large round belly surmounted by a small head. To right and left, detached from the body, arms making gestures, one upward and the other downward. And: “The right and the left pleading against each other before the belly.”

T29.Yes, both obligations, sometimes, all four parentheses and the bounded quotation remain. Ambiguities renders équivoques without imposing deliberate deception, expressly excluded by not lies. The first English truth is moved forward from the source’s later object to clarify la; the later English it resumes truth. The speaker of he says remains unidentified, and no quotation locus is authenticated. [Sometimes], [to], [art], [Finally], [often] and [color] give contextual whole-word readings of […]uelquefois, […]our, […]rt, […]nfin, sou[…]ent and […]olorer. The bracketed to renders the damaged pour relation as a whole, while intact non remains outside as not. These English brackets do not certify the missing French letters. Literal scavant is retained in French. The main June date preserves only a qualified terminal 3; no preceding digit is supplied, and the annotation’s Thursday June 1 does not complete it.

T37.The source editor’s complete roman description remains text; no invented illustration is supplied. Every spatial relation, large/small contrast and the final quoted caption remain. Thursday June 1 is the annotation’s date, with its printed ordinal understood as date typography, not a restoration of the damaged main date. The source call belongs after juin in the main date heading and before its period. English adds a comma after In the middle. Pleading against each other contextually renders plaidant contradictoirement.

T70.The first June day retains a qualified 3: color/native show both lobes and the central turn despite upper-left softness. No preceding digit is certified. A separate root original-size comparison agrees with this bounded contour; the apparatus June 1 is not used to fill this date. The six damaged openings retain only uelquefois, our, rt, nfin, ent after sou-, and olorer. Color/native do not certify the missing initials. Literal scavant remains, along with the full bounded quotation and four parentheses. The raised 1 call follows juin before the date period.

T71.One complete roman source-editor description; no drawing is invented. The explicit Thursday June 1 with raised er remains distinct from the damaged main date. A droite has a plain capital A. The belly/head and detached-arm relations, both directions and final quoted caption remain.

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.