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 IIUNDATED · Entry 8264

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Facing Pages · Branch 4483 of 4529

UNDATED · Entry 8264

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 8965

24 (Liasse 3.)

Dans ma cabane obscure...

(C’est le chant du coteau, c’est le chant du retour...)

Du champ, de la prairie Revenant chaque soir, Chaque soir plus chérie Je viendrai te revoir.

Ces paroles semblent tellement inséparables de cet air et tellement nées pour lui être unies, que les notes et elles se confondent et semblent ne pouvoir pas subsister les unes sans les autres. Aussi jamais la mémoire ne les désunira. Elle peut bien oublier tous les autres couplets, mais celui-ci se représentera toujours toutes les fois que l’oreille entendra ces sons.

Avec les jeux dans le village...

(Celui-là semble se chanter aux oiseaux et à l’écho.)

Sous ces arbres du voisinage, Respirons la fraîcheur du jour...

Quand l’air est parvenu à ces paroles, on diroit qu’il s’asseoit et se repose.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: UNDATED

p. 8966

24 (Bundle 3.)

In my dark hut...

(It is the song of the hillside, it is the song of the return...)

From the field, from the meadow, Returning every evening, Each evening more cherished, I shall come to see you again.

These words seem so inseparable from this tune and so born to be united with it that the notes and the words merge and seem unable to exist without one another. Thus memory will never disunite them. It may well forget all the other verses, but this one will always present itself again every time the ear hears these sounds.

With games in the village...

(This one seems to sing itself to the birds and to the echo.)

Beneath these neighboring trees, Let us breathe the coolness of the day...

When the tune has reached these words, one would think it sits down and rests.

T34.The single displayed verse line and printed ellipsis remain one paragraph. Hut renders cabane without an added smallness adjective. It shares the source’s left inset with the continuation at paragraph 3; no rhyme or external lyric is imported. All eight item 24 blocks are main text and roman; only the separate Liasse 3. group label is italic inside roman parentheses.

T196.In the French source, printed item 24 owns eight separate main-text blocks: verse, parenthetic comment, four-line verse, prose, verse, parenthetic comment, two-line verse, prose. All are roman. The four verse blocks share one indented left edge; they are not separately centered. The two comments are not apparatus. All ellipses are printed. The first line has cabane without a separate smallness adjective; chérie has feminine singular ending without a uniquely resolved referent supplied here. The source comma after unies is retained. Couplet/couplets remains literal. Original-size color and native confirm fraîcheur with circumflex, the conditional on diroit and literal s’asseoit. The two final predicates sit/rest remain distinct. No source word is missing.

T35.The parenthesis, repeated it-is-the-song, hillside/return and ellipsis remain a separate main-text paragraph, not a translator note.

T36.The four source verse lines remain four English lines within one paragraph, at the same left inset as paragraph 1. Repeated evening, future return and more cherished remain. French chérie is feminine singular; its relation to the speaker or the addressed cabane is not settled by agreement alone. English cherished leaves that attachment open rather than naming the referent. English adds a comma at the end of the first line for phrasing and does not invent a rhyme. These roman lines remain separate from the preceding parenthetic comment and following prose.

T37.The two so terms, born/united image, seeming rather than asserted impossibility, memory’s never, may-well and always/every-time remain. Verses contextually renders couplets as song stanzas rather than necessarily two-line couplets. The tune is distinct from its notes, words and sounds. English omits the source comma after unies before que; present hears idiomatically renders future entendra in the every-time clause. This roman prose is one of the eight main blocks, not an annotation.

T38.The initial With and ellipsis remain one verse line and paragraph, sharing the source inset with paragraph 7. No missing action is supplied.

T39.The parenthetic comment remains a main paragraph. Seems, reflexive singing and both addressees remain; no tune or composer is identified.

T40.Two verse lines remain one paragraph with the same left inset as paragraph 5. The demonstrative trees, inclusive imperative, breathing coolness and ellipsis remain without an invented rhyme.

T41.The completed temporal arrival, conditional one would think and distinct sits-down/rests personification remain. Would think renders on diroit as a hypothetical impression, not a categorical present judgment. The tune is not replaced by a singer. French retains literal s’asseoit. This final roman prose paragraph completes item 24; its preceding verse and parenthetic comments remain separate main blocks.

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.