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 wordThe sun concentrates light, while night supplies both the conditions of rest and an image of obscurity.
- In JoubertThe sun is called only a focus of light, as matter is a channel rather than a cause of movement.
- In this editionThe English translation keeps “focus” for foyer in this light passage, rather than hearth.
- A place to beginThe sun is a focus, not the named origin, of light.
- English renderings
- sun; night; nights
Meaning
The sun concentrates light, while night supplies both the conditions of rest and an image of obscurity. Their figurative uses need not turn them into a fixed good–evil pair.
Use in the book
The sun is called only a focus of light, as matter is a channel rather than a cause of movement. Evening’s descending night instead gathers fields, creatures, and plants into silence. Artificial nights made by writers are explicitly suspect: they manufacture an appearance of depth and make weak lights seem brilliant. The natural hush of night and the strategic darkness of prose are therefore distinct judgments.
Places to read
- I, p. 473, entry 2, ¶3The sun is a focus, not the named origin, of light.
- I, p. 70, entry 10, ¶1Night accompanies the quieting of fields and living things.
- II, p. 910, entry 12, ¶1Artificial darkness exaggerates depth and brilliance in writing.
Translation in this edition
The English translation keeps “focus” for foyer in this light passage, rather than hearth. Nuit can also be a form of nuire, to harm; that verb is distinct from nuit meaning night.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 70, 473; II, pp. 910.