MA-ENG, Sem-3, Autobiography,Unit 3, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions

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2 JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU’S CONFESSIONS PART ONE, BOOK ONE Prof. (Dr.) Mosam Sinha www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote the two volumes of his Confessions from 1765–1769. 2 Rousseau’s liberal ideas were controversial to say the least, and his criticism of religion had drawn the fury of the Church establishment in France and Switzerland. 3 During the writing period, he moved frequently, living in various locations in Neuchâtel Principality, Switzerland (for a while on a tiny island), England, and France. Apparently unable to modulate his opinions, he suffered with the unpleasant results of the widespread enmity of religious and intellectual opponents, separated his friends, and was even attacked on the street. These experiences in part fuelled his decision to write a memoir that would expose the harassment he was experiencing. Some episodes he presents may well be the exaggerated products of fear, for he wrote: “I am surrounded by spies….” www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

2 4 Rousseau intended to write an entirely true account. His efforts were unusual in their day, if not, as he claimed in the opening, entirely unique: “I am commencing an undertaking, hitherto without pattern, and which will never find an imitator.” Certainly, the last part of the line was proved untrue, as memoir and autobiography have since become popular genres. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Rousseau presents his difficult, motherless childhood—as his mother died in 2 childbirth—raised by an emotionally distant father. One positive kind of attention his father bestowed, however, was reading aloud with 5 him, helping establish his lifelong love of books and tendency to find solace in them. Throughout, he mentions his submissive attitudes toward women. Summoning up remarkably vivid memories, he admits to misbehaving, such as stealing fruit, and includes the punishments justly gave out. As a teenager, leaving his apprenticeship with an engraver, he tells of becoming the lover of an older woman. With Madame de Warens’ assistance, he gained employment in high society in their rural city, which he later transformed into employment first in Venice and then in Paris. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Rousseau’s involvement in a Parisian intellectual circle including Denis Diderot 2 marked the turning point of his vocation, as he realized his place was among thinkers and writers. 6 The Confessions includes his connections with other thinkers, as well as more passionate affairs. He developed his lifelong interest in the transformative power and severe limitations of science—the explorations of which would later prompt the accusations of belief. Emile, who featured his reflections on the Church, including the questions raised by a country clergyman assistant, was the work that prompted the condemnations and censure from which he was compelled to flee. The Confessions, although written several years later, take him through the publication of Emile and his departure from Bern. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

The Confessions of J. J. Rousseau, commonly known as The 2 Confessions, opens with a proclamation of originality: “I am commencing an undertaking, hitherto without precedent, and which 7 will never find an imitator.” The reasons for the singularity of this undertaking are twofold. First, Rousseau claims to be absolutely honest, to hold back nothing of the “truth of nature.” Second, he feels he is different from all other people, and it is the value of this difference that he desires his reader to judge. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

The Confessions were written between 1765 and 1769 in an effort to 2 react to the persecutions that Rousseau suffered even at the hands of former friends. 8 They are divided chronologically into two parts. The first, which follows the formative years of the philosopher, is the most accessible and most often studied. Although much of what he has to tell is embarrassing, Rousseau seems to delight in dwelling on the pleasure that he felt in being hit by the Lambercier. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Characters 2 Jean-Jacques Rousseau 9 The hero and storyteller, Rousseau is a creative, rash person. He's adult a vagrant, figuring out how to deal with himself since early on. As a grown-up, he gets himself continually in friendly difficulty for not having the option to control his sexual motivations. He makes courses of action with a few well off old, refined women. Each time he stumbles into difficulty, his answer is to flee. He's bad at tolerating duty or fixing his issues. Then again, he turns into an outstanding essayist and fruitful craftsman. His numerous experiences have made him a horribly interesting individual and never short on companions. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Characters 2 Uncle Bernard 10 He raises Rousseau after the kid's father needs to seek total isolation from the law. Bernard doesn't burden himself to accommodate Rousseau, so he makes the child's life troublesome. He does, notwithstanding, permit his child, Bernard, to start up a significant relationship with his cousin. Pontverre While Rousseau is a student, he becomes companions with Pontverre. He's a blackguard who's planning something sinister. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Characters 2 Mme de Warens 11 She is a rich more seasoned blue-blood with an affection for more youthful men. Upon first gathering, she begins to look all starry eyed at Rousseau. She's a wild, dirty old woman who makes her expectations self-evident. She acknowledges him back after Rousseau's visit in Turin. By this point she's tracked down another Don Juan, yet she's simply utilizing him to make Rousseau desirous. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Characters 2 Claude Anet 12 He's an enchanting, attractive youngster who becomes Mme de Warens' darling during Rousseau's first nonappearance. Therese Rousseau falls head over heels in love for her upon first sight and weds her. Reluctant to completely submit, be that as it may, he keeps on having various illicit relationships all through their marriage. By year two, Therese lives alone in Rousseau's home, and he lives with his new advocate, Mme d 'Epinay. Mme d‘ Houdetot Notwithstanding being locked into Saint Lambert, she begins an issue with Rousseau. She's dazzled by his enthusiastic words and the threat of the undertaking. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Summary 2 Our guy Jean-Jacques Rousseau is about to tell the truth, the whole 13 truth, and nothing but the truth… about himself. His goal is to give his readers a totally true portrait. First, the basics: Rousseau is born in 1712 to a mom named Susanne and a dad named Isaac. Rousseau's mom and dad have an epic love story. Even though they knew each other as kids, they didn't get together until they were both mature enough to handle it. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Summary 2 Sadly, Rousseau's mom dies in childbirth. Isaac, his dad, is distressed. 14 Rousseau doesn't remember a lot until his fifth or sixth birthday. But he does remember what a huge impact reading had on him. All that reading gives Rousseau plenty of insight into human passion. Rousseau has a brother, but disappears early in Rousseau's childhood. Rousseau is basically an only son after his brother moves away permanently—poor guy. Little Rousseau gets the royal treatment from everyone around him, but he's a bit of a brat. He urinates in his neighbor's cooking-pot while she's at church one day. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Summary 2 Rousseau's aunt is a huge influence in his life. He still remembers her beautiful voice singing 15 songs. When Rousseau is still a kid, his father is almost thrown in jail for drawing his sword against a French captain named M. Gautier. Rousseau's dad gets the heck out of Dodge rather than go to jail. In other words, he leaves Geneva permanently. Rousseau stays behind under the charge of his kindly uncle, Bernard. Rousseau also has a cousin named Bernard, which gets a little confusing. The two kids get to be best friends. Together, the kids are sent to a village called Bossey, France to learn Latin from a pastor, M. Lambercier. The pastor's wife, Mlle Lambercier, lets both boys sleep in her bed regularly. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Summary 2 While it's all innocent, Rousseau is sure that this experience led him down the path 16 to perversity. Rousseau gets in hot water when Mlle Lamberciers's comb turns up broken. After a brief stint (time) as an apprentice for a pettifogger, Rousseau sets out to become an engraver. Rousseau kind of loves his new job. His boss accuses him of trying to use his mad skills to forge money. Rousseau isn't guilty of that crime, but he does get himself involved in a crime- a crime ring, to be more specific. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Summary 2 Rousseau remembers how he's always been materialistic. Tell it to Madonna, dude. Around this time, Rousseau discovers the joys of lending libraries. He goes through 17 books at La Tribu's library. At the age of sixteen, Rousseau is told he'll be fired if he doesn't make it back on time in the evening. It looks like our guy has a little tardiness problem. What happens next? You guessed it: while hanging out with some buddies, Rousseau doesn't make it back on time before the bridge goes up for the day. Rather than face his master in shame, he decides to just up and quit, despite his cousin Bernard telling him to pull it together. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Summary 2 Everyone just assumes that Rousseau has committed the crime, but he holds strong and 18 refuses to confess. To this day, Rousseau remembers this comb incident. Still, he maintains his innocence. Rousseau and his cousin Bernard plant a walnut tree on a terrace one fine day. The cousins rig an canal to keep water running straight towards the tree. M. Lambercier spots the boys' construction and promptly wrecks it, yelling \"An aqueduct! An aqueduct!\" This turns out to be one of Rousseau's dearest memories . Little Rousseau starts flirting with some older girls: Vulson and Goton. They see him as a little kid, but he's totally in love. Rousseau is furious when Vulson ends up getting married to another guy. www.cuidol.in Unit-1(MAP-607) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

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