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Literature

Energy

énergie

Literary energy is a power of expression whose value depends on what it accomplishes and how it is governed.

From the book

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II

Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordLiterary energy is a power of expression whose value depends on what it accomplishes and how it is governed.
  • In JoubertThe damaged pen and strained singing voice exemplify the need to husband strength, mind and talent through art.
  • In this editionThe English translation retains energy and distinguishes force or strength where the French does.
  • A place to beginUnmanaged energy can spoil a young writer’s pen.
English renderings
energy

Meaning

Literary energy is a power of expression whose value depends on what it accomplishes and how it is governed. It is expressly distinguished from strength and from noisy excess.

Use in the book

The damaged pen and strained singing voice exemplify the need to husband strength, mind and talent through art. Languages likewise corrupt themselves by exceeding their natural energy, ordinary sound and habitual brilliance, not simply by possessing energy. The judgment on empty stylistic effects asks whether energy strengthens anything; an effect with no such result has no merit. “Strength is not energy” then blocks easy substitution of muscular force for talent. The account of short words gives a positive verbal resource, locating energy and concision in skillful use rather than mere volume. Its numerical tension remains: the heading praises monosyllables while the examples extend to words of up to three syllables.

Places to read

  1. I, p. 212, entry 2, ¶1Unmanaged energy can spoil a young writer’s pen.
  2. I, p. 308, entry 10, ¶1Languages can exceed their natural energy.
  3. II, p. 609, entry 3, ¶2Energy without a strengthening effect lacks merit.
  4. II, p. 610, entry 5, ¶1Energy is distinguished from muscular strength.
  5. II, p. 906, entry 2, ¶4Short words provide a resource for energy and concision.

Translation in this edition

The English translation retains energy and distinguishes force or strength where the French does. The last witness contains damaged components and a source-supplied suffix; its English [and], [all], [of] and [everything] disclose their different interventions. The English examples translate meaning, not French letter or syllable counts.

Source note

Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 212, 308; II, pp. 609, 610, 906.