This work is a frank treatment of Rousseau's sexual and intellectual development. It offers a model for the reflective life: the solitary, uncompromising individual; the enemy of servitude and habit; and the selfish egoist who dedicates himself to a particular ideal.
When it was first published in 1781, The Confessions scandalised Europe with its emotional honesty and frank treatment of the author's sexual and intellectual development. Since then, it has had a more profound impact on European thought. Rousseau left posterity a model of the reflective life - the solitary, uncompromising individual, the enemy of servitude and habit and the selfish egoist who dedicates his life to a particular ideal. The Confessions recreates the world in which he progressed from incompetent engraver to grand success; his enthusiasm for experience, his love of nature, and his uncompromising character make him an ideal guide to eighteenth-century Europe, and he was the author of some of the most profound work ever written on the relation between the individual and the state.
* Beautifully illustrated with atmospheric paintings by renowned artists, The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a fascinating treatise on the education of the whole person for citizenship. * Just as accessible and enjoyable for today's readers as it would have been when first published, the novel is one of the great works of French literature and continues to be widely read throughout the world.* This meticulous edition from Heritage Illustrated Publishing is a faithful reproduction of the original text and is enhanced with images of classic works of art carefully selected by our team of professional editors.
Reconstructs the life of the French literary genius whose writing changed opinions and fueled fierce debate on both sides of the Atlantic during the period of the American and French revolutions.