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 1805 · Entry 4263

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Facing Pages · Branch 482 of 4529

YEAR 1805 · Entry 4263

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 963

On appelle manière dans les arts une habitude qu’on s’est faite et qui vient de notre coutume plus que de notre naturel. On appelle manière en littérature ce qu’on ne peut pas lire sans l’imaginer aussitôt accompagné de quelque gesticulation menuë, de quelque pincement de bouche ou de quelque contorsion, c’est à dire de quelque mouvement peu franc, peu partagé par la totalité de l’homme. Le maniéré où l’on imagine le geste est proprement le maniéré. Quand on y imagine le pincement, c’est le précieux, l’afféterie. Quand on y imagine la contorsion, c’est tout à fait le ridicule.

Maniéré de manières. Delalot participe du maniéré parce que, en lisant tout ce qu’il écrit, on imagine malgré soi un certain air de tête qu’on peut aisément contrefaire et qui est constant. Je dis qui est constant car ce qui est fugitif et varié échappe au nom et au reproche.

— Ce qui fait imaginer que l’auteur s’est souri à lui même.

Il y a quelquefois dans Montesquieu une sorte de pincement; mais c’est un pincement des sourcils, une sorte de froncement que fait la pénétration pour ne laisser rien échapper.

Dans Félès, l’attitude est de la tête aux pieds.

La grimace d’humeur est hors du maniéré, elle est trop vive.

Geoffroy a de l’afféterie quelquefois, mais elle est courte.

De la manière dans la voix, n’est pas le maniéré. Il faut au maniéré quelque mouvement dans le corps. Le repos ne peut entrer que dans la manière. L’original, le singulier ont des coutumes qui leur viennent de leur nature. L’emphase est dans la voix, l’afféterie peut se trouver dans la prononciation.

Le mouvement du corps, quoique partiel et non total, s’il vient du mouvement d’esprit, ne constituë point le maniéré. Car l’esprit est censé tout l’homme.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1805

p. 964

In the arts, we call manner a habit we have formed for ourselves and that comes from our custom more than from our nature. In literature, we call manner what one cannot read without at once imagining it accompanied by some small gesticulation, some pursing of the mouth or some contortion, that is, some movement that is not very frank, not much shared by the whole man. The mannered in which one imagines the gesture is properly the mannered. When one imagines the pursing, it is the precious, affectation. When one imagines the contortion, it is altogether the ridiculous.

Mannered in manners. Delalot partakes of the mannered because, in reading everything he writes, one involuntarily imagines a certain air of the head that is easily mimicked and is constant. I say constant, for what is fleeting and varied escapes both the name and the reproach.

— What makes one imagine that the author has smiled to himself.

There is sometimes in Montesquieu a sort of pursing; but it is a pursing of the eyebrows, a sort of frown that penetration makes so as to let nothing escape.

In Félès, the posture is from head to foot.

The grimace of temper lies outside the mannered; it is too lively.

Geoffroy sometimes has affectation, but it is brief.

Manner in the voice, is not the mannered. The mannered requires some movement in the body. Repose can enter only into manner. The original, the singular have customs that come to them from their nature. Emphasis is in the voice; affectation can be found in pronunciation.

The movement of the body, though partial and not total, does not constitute the mannered if it comes from the movement of the mind. For the mind is accounted the whole man.

T122.Manner translates manière; the mannered translates le maniéré throughout this nine-paragraph block. Keeping them distinct makes visible Joubert’s narrower account of mannered bodily gesture. Precious and ridiculous remain substantivized categories, and affectation renders afféterie. The repeated definitions are not rewritten to remove their circular appearance.

T325.The first paragraph continues across pages 515–516, followed by eight further physical paragraphs without intervening asterisks. Enlarged facsimiles confirm afféterie with acute accents; menuë and constituë retain diaereses. Félès is not silently replaced by an identified modern spelling. The source prints s’est souri à lui même and the incomplete De la manière dans la voix, n’est pas le maniéré. The final censé tout l’homme lacks an expressed être and is not completed. Clipped page 515 beginnings qui and manière, and page 516 right-edge words at the binding, are restored only where surviving letters and syntax establish them.

T123.Mannered in manners preserves the repeated root in the brief opening. Air of the head keeps the visible bearing that readers can imagine and mimic, without supplying a particular pose. Delalot remains as printed.

T124.The repeated pursing carries the mouth image over to the eyebrows. Penetration is intellectual discernment personified as making a frown; the translation does not turn it into a separate physical action.

T125.Félès remains the printed name. The head-to-foot posture is not assigned to a standardized name or a particular work.

T126.Humeur is temper, and vive is lively or animated. The statement distinguishes a vivid expression of temper from the mannered category without adding a claim about sincerity.

T127.The French begins with De la manière and an intrusive comma before n’est pas. The English preserves the comma and the compressed distinction instead of replacing it with a newly complete definition. Emphase can carry a sense of inflated emphasis; it remains distinct from affectation in pronunciation.

T128.Partial and total refer to how much of the person shares the movement. Accounted preserves censé without supplying a new theory of the relation between mind and person; the French has no separate être before tout l’homme.

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.