From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAccent and ton can concern audible expression, literary bearing, or socially approved manner.
- In JoubertThe gentle accent of ancient books is part of their example of beautiful language, even though the books are read.
- In this editionThe English translation retains tone through its social and stylistic senses.
- A place to beginAccent describes the gentle bearing of written language.
- English renderings
- accent; tone
Meaning
Accent and ton can concern audible expression, literary bearing, or socially approved manner. Their values depend on the kind of expression being judged.
Use in the book
The gentle accent of ancient books is part of their example of beautiful language, even though the books are read. Tone is more sharply qualified in the fashion comparison: there may be a truly best tone, but common usage calls the fashionable tone good. The tone/taste fragment argues that an expression offending taste must be excluded, while a departure from prevailing tone need not be. This distinction gives literary purism a boundary. Musical semitones belong to another, specifically acoustic and shading context; they should not be used to explain social tone as if it were merely pitch.
Places to read
- II, p. 495, entry 2, ¶1Accent describes the gentle bearing of written language.
- II, p. 592, entry 3, ¶1Good tone is distinguished from the tone approved by fashion.
- II, p. 748, entry 7, ¶1Tone and taste receive different authority over exclusion.
- I, p. 321, entry 9, ¶1Semitones participate in a musical chiaroscuro analogy.
Translation in this edition
The English translation retains tone through its social and stylistic senses. Good dressmaker is a contextual reading of bonne faiseuse in the fashion analogy. The unfinished opening “Their differences and” remains unfinished, and the musical series’ attribution to de Brosses is source-editor apparatus.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 321; II, pp. 495, 592, 748.