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 1821 · Entry 8149

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English Page · Branch 4368 of 4529

YEAR 1821 · Entry 8149

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 8735

Rousseau. Son esprit habita le monde moral, mais non pas l’autr[…] qui est au dessus.

Voltaire. Connut la clarté et se joua dans la lumière, mais pou[…] l’éparpiller et en briser tous les rayons comme un méchant or fi[…] (sic).

Montesquieu. Ne connut, ne sentit, n’aima et n’obtint que l’écla[…] avec un peu de gravité qui vient en lui de ses sujets et non d[…] lui.

Diderot. Il ne vit aucune lumière et n’eut que d’ingénieuses lubies[…]

Raynal. Amoureux de paroles et de grandisonance.

Saint Pierre. Le soleil et ce qui y ressemble.

Chateaubriand. De tout.

Fontanes. De l’emprumpt, mais à la raison universelle et une puret[…] de goût.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1821

p. 8736

Rousseau. His mind inhabited the moral world, but not the [other] one above it.

Voltaire. Knew clarity and played in light, but [to] scatter it and break all its rays like a wicked [fine] gold (sic).

Montesquieu. Knew, felt, loved and obtained only [brilliance], with a little gravity that comes to him from his subjects and not [from] himself.

Diderot. He saw no light and had only ingenious whims.

Raynal. In love with words and grandiloquence.

Saint Pierre. The sun and what resembles it.

Chateaubriand. Something of everything.

Fontanes. Borrowing, but from universal reason, and a [purity] of taste.

T50.The name fragment, past habitation, negative contrast and spatial above remain without naming the other world. [Other] contextually renders autr[…]; one is an ordinary English nominal support for the adjective and remains outside the loss brackets. No lost French ending is certified.

T128.Eight separately indented author paragraphs remain one undated unit. The clipped word ends retain autr, pou, fi, écla, d and puret. In particular the main phrase is or fi[…], not a certified complete or fin and not the apparatus conjecture orfraie. The surviving t of puret is abraded but identifiable in color. The complete word lubies is readable, but the adjacent damaged edge does not certify terminal punctuation. Its final marker records a suspected punctuation loss of uncertain presence/extent, not a recovered word or a guaranteed printed period. Literal emprumpt is independently visible in color/native 438, with m followed by p; it is not normalized to emprunt. Grandisonance and unhyphenated Saint Pierre remain. Only sic is italic; its parentheses are roman. Call 1 follows the complete closing parenthesis and precedes the separate period. Call 2 follows Saint Pierre before its period. Both apparatus paragraphs remain separate source-editor voice.

S1.Source editor’s annotationDid Joubert not mean to write orfraie?

T51.The omitted subject, two past actions, purpose and all remain. [To] contextually interprets pou[…] as the purpose connector. The source has incomplete or fi[…], not a certified complete or fin; [fine] provisionally interprets the damaged adjective while intact or remains gold. This anomalous comparison and sic are preserved. The source editor’s separate orfraie conjecture is not substituted into the body and does not establish the missing main-text letters. Only sic is italic; its parentheses are roman, and the raised annotation call follows the closing parenthesis before the separate period.

T60.The question and tentative attribution remain source-editor voice. Orfraie is retained as the proposed French word, distinct from incomplete main-text or fi[…]; the conjecture does not establish that lost ending. The 1798 Académie entry describes a nocturnal bird associated with ill omen and an unpleasant cry. That historical gloss does not settle a modern species or prove the conjecture. No correction is silently imported into the body. Only orfraie is italic in French and English; the question mark is roman. The annotation is called after the main (sic) and before its separate period.

T129.The question remains a conjecture in the source apparatus, not a correction imported into the incomplete main or fi[…]. Only orfraie is italic; the question mark has the upright roman contour visible in color/native 438.

T52.The single restriction governs all four past verbs. A little, present comes, subjects and the explicit negative source of gravity remain; no independent assessment is added. [Brilliance] and [from] are contextual whole-word readings of écla[…] and d[…], without certifying their missing endings.

T53.The two limits no/only and ingenious remain distinct; whims renders lubies without supplying a diagnosis. The complete word lubies is legible. Its following source marker records uncertain punctuation at the damaged edge, not a known missing word; the English final period is supplied punctuation and does not certify a printed French period or the extent of a loss.

T54.The nominal fragment and two objects remain. Grandiloquence contextually renders the loud rhetorical quality of literal grandisonance beside words. The earlier bounded search found no usable period entry; no external lexical authentication is claimed.

S2.Source editor’s annotationBernardin de Saint Pierre.

T55.The name remains as printed; its expansion belongs to the separate source annotation. The nominal pairing and resemblance stay unexplained. The raised source call follows the unhyphenated Saint Pierre before its baseline period; it belongs to the separate roman identification, not to the name’s spelling.

T61.The source editor’s expansion remains a separate annotation attached to the Saint Pierre paragraph. It is not promoted to a main heading or claimed as a new identification by this translator. The unhyphenated name and terminal period are roman in both languages; the raised call follows main-text Saint Pierre before its separate period.

T56.The source’s unaccented Chateaubriand is retained. Something of everything renders the compressed De tout without adding particular qualities.

T57.The nominal fragment, limiting but, universal and separate purity remain. No verb or particular borrowing source is invented. French retains literal emprumpt, with m followed by p, rather than normalizing it to emprunt. [Purity] is a contextual whole-word reading of puret[…]; the missing ending is not certified.

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.