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Confessions (World's Classics)

by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Patrick Coleman (Editor), Angela Scholar (Translator)

3.57 of 5 stars 3.57 · rating details · 2,281 ratings · 112 reviews

In his Confessions Jean-Jacques Rousseau tells the story of his life, from the formative experience of his humble childhood in Geneva, through the achievement of international fame as novelist and philosopher in Paris, to his wanderings as an exile, persecuted by governments and alienated from the world of modern civilization. In trying to explain who he was and how he cam...more

Paperback, 676 pages

Published May 18th 2000 by Oxford University Press, USA (first published 1782)

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May 15, 2013 Rakhi Dalal rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: rousseau

As is true about classics, they are not only a very authentic expression of the author’s views and ideas, but also by large, present a mirror for the world we live in. This is one reason why it is difficult to review them. For, it calls not only an undivided attention towards the ideas expressed and opinions raised, but also for a deep introspection; a meditation on the relevance of ideas presented, their importance on the working of society and their necessity in the wake of everyday life.

Confe...more

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Jan 17, 2010 Venus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography

این یگانه تصویری است که از انسان وجود دارد و به احتمال تا ابد همین یک تصویر وجود خواهد داشت.تصویری که دقیقا از روی طبیعت کشیده شده و چهره راستین او را تصویر کرده است.هر که هستید ای کسانی که تقدیر یا اعتماد من شما را حاکم بر سرنوشت این دفتر کرده است،به خاطر شوربختیهایم،به خاطر احساسات و عواطفتان و به نام نوع بشر از شما تمنا دارم که این اثر یگانه و سودمند را از میان نبرید

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Jan 19, 2013 ميّ أحمد rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: سير-ذاتية, فلسفة

لماذا لا توجد نجمة سادسة

نعم هذا الكتاب يستحق .. أنا على ثقة إن عشاق الفلسفة لن يروق لهم هذا الكتاب لكن محبي الأدب والشعر والكلمة الرقيقة سيأخذ منهم كل مأخذ ..
يكتب روسو اعترافاته بأسلوب إنساني بالغ الرهافة ممتلىء بالمشاعر النبيلة والصادقة والإيحاءات العاطفية يعرج على كل أخطاءه المؤسفة والبغيضة يصدح بها علانية دون أن يتحرج منها أو يخجل منها ..
هذه الجرأة المحببة بلا شك تشعرك كم هذا الإنسان هو حقيقي وصادق ونبيل ..
ومن يقرأ لروسو هذه الكمية من الإعترافات يدرك كيف أن كل تلك الأحداث التي
مرت في حياته...more

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Jun 20, 2011 David Lentz rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is a revelation as it seemed to me a portrait, or perhaps a mask, of the heightened sensibilities of the interior monologue of a genius. "Since my name is certain to live on among men, I do not want the reputation it transmits to be a false one." Indeed, his honesty is remarkable as he writes about the abandonment of his children, his relationship with lovers and his intimate proclivities. Rousseau's life was a fascinating study of an extraordinary and innovative mind. He dined "someti...more This book is a revelation as it seemed to me a portrait, or perhaps a mask, of the heightened sensibilities of the interior monologue of a genius. "Since my name is certain to live on among men, I do not want the reputation it transmits to be a false one." Indeed, his honesty is remarkable as he writes about the abandonment of his children, his relationship with lovers and his intimate proclivities. Rousseau's life was a fascinating study of an extraordinary and innovative mind. He dined "sometime with princes at noon and supped with peasants at night." Musically self-taught, he invented an alphabetical code for writing music and wrote an opera performed with it in "The Village Soothsayer." His "Social Contract" inspired constitutions in nations struggling with revolution against monarchies to become democracies which earned him threats of sedition and cruel acts of political scorn. His books were burned, the church sought to excommunicate him, his house was stoned and he escaped in exile en route to Berlin through the good graces of philosopher David Hume to England toward the end of his life. At times, often enough, he seems the narcissist subtly engrossed in his many virtues masked in false humility and yet the final, lasting impression is of a masterpiece forged from the crucible of a tormented soul bent upon the diligent and inspired study of the journey of the maturing human heart. Like Voltaire toward the end of his life but before his exile, we find Rousseau living on a lake isle longing only to finish his life in the practice of avid gardening and intellectual pursuits. The translation here by Angela Scholar is richly, gorgeous prose which reminded me of Proust, who I'm confident must have been influenced by Rousseau. This book is, as Rousseau described it, the "most secret history of my soul" and ranks highly on my Top 25 Novels of All Time among the holy literary trinity of France's Proust in "The Remembrance of Lost Time" and Balzac's "Lost Illusions." I really can't urge you strongly enough to carve out the time to read this brilliantly conceived autobiography. (less)

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Mar 19, 2011 La pointe de la sauce rated it 2 of 5 stars

M. Jean Jacque spends an enormous amount of time name dropping this Monsieur or that Madame where he's dined and so on, giving advice no one wants to hear and apparently rendering services so great that he can, in all humility, claim to have saved the lives and family of such and such a person! All his friends hate him, he flees his adopted country for creating 'public disorder' in the form of his 'Social Contract' and manages to offend pretty much everyone. Jean-Jacque displays an incredible in...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Haneen Al Suradi added it · review of another edition

في اعترافاته .. عرى روسو باطنه ودخائل نفسه وسرد أحداث حياته بتتابع،، مفعمة بمشاعره وأحاسيسه.

أنب نفسه حين رأي أنها تستحق التأنيب،و أنصفها حين رأى أنها تستحق ذلك. روسو كان جريئاً بأن أطلعنا على كل ما كانت تحدثه به نفسه، وأنا أزعم أن كثيراً منا لا يقوى على فعل ذلك. قال في مقدمة اعترافاته:

"فإذا ما انطلقت آخر صيحات بوق البعث عندما يقدر له أن يدوي فلسوف أمثل أمام الحاكم العادل وهذا الكتاب بين يديّ ولسوف أقول في رباطة جأش: هذا ما فعلت وما فكرت وما كنت!"

تابعت رحلاته في الريف والمدن على خرائط جوجل مابس،...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biographies-memoirs

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I changed my mind about this one several times throughout the book. At times, Rousseau seems an unbelievably diplomatic story-teller. Other times, he seems downright paranoid. He has to be the most emotional man I've ever come across. He seems to cry through the whole thing. There are constant tears and embraces and so forth. Although he takes great pains to describe how amorous he wasn't as a young boy as well as his extreme distaste for prostitutes (excepting two in Venice), it seems that beyo...more

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Nov 21, 2009 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Compelling account of an impressive man who was inspiring, brilliant, petty, and obnoxious.

His bust up in England with Hume makes me think his philosophy arose in part from a complete inability to function socially. His cultured wildness has a James Dean quality to it.

The original East Coast/West Coast rivalry with Rousseau and Voltaire.
Rousseau up, Voltaire down, homies.

I feel like the 20th century was something of a condemnation of his ideas about governance. His worker led, state religion par...more

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Apr 22, 2012 Samara Nouri rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: national-library, favorite

الاعترافات لجان جاك روسو ملحمة ادبية بلغة واسلوب وفن يفوق الابداع. تستطيع استعارتها من دار الكتب الوطنية في ابو ظبي .. ثلاثة اجزاء تجسد نبوغ وعبقرية ومشاعر مرهفة وتناقضات ومؤامرات واضطهادات اعترف الفيلسوف جان جاك روسو بكل تفاصيلها. ومن الاجحاف ان اضع مراجعة عابرة لثلاث مجلدات من ادب بديع، ولذلك كتبتها في ثلاثة اجزاء على الروابط التالية:

جان جاك روسو الجزء الاول

جان جاك روسو الجزء الثاني

جان جاك روسو الجزء الثالث

لايفوتك اذا كنت من المتذوقين لادب راق ورفيع.

قراءة ممتعة

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Jan 02, 2013 Arukiyomi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1001-books

It was radical at the time. It isn’t now. Now we can hardly stop public figures from stripping naked before us with autobiographies that are designed to shock and titillate. But when Rousseau wrote this he was doing something that hadn’t been done before: writing the truth about his youth.

This book’s one of those “important” books that anyone serious about literature can bore the backside off a bus with, one of those that makes you think the publishers of the 1001 series should have changed thei...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Pierre E. Loignon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophie, biographie

Rousseau voulait être aimé et il voulait mériter de l’être. Sa grande connaissance des auteurs antiques l’a ainsi tout naturellement entraîné à devenir une personnalité sublime, toujours prêt à défendre les idées les plus contraires à son siècle et aux puissants qui en modelaient les opinions politiques et philosophiques.
Il vivra ainsi de nombreuses déceptions en amitié et en amour, il devra varier dans ses appartenances religieuses extérieures, il vivra aussi l’exil et à la longue, à forces d’...more Rousseau voulait être aimé et il voulait mériter de l’être. Sa grande connaissance des auteurs antiques l’a ainsi tout naturellement entraîné à devenir une personnalité sublime, toujours prêt à défendre les idées les plus contraires à son siècle et aux puissants qui en modelaient les opinions politiques et philosophiques.
Il vivra ainsi de nombreuses déceptions en amitié et en amour, il devra varier dans ses appartenances religieuses extérieures, il vivra aussi l’exil et à la longue, à forces d’être constamment blessé, il deviendra un vieil homme de plus en plus méfiant des autres, un interprète de plus en plus attentif aux moindres signes qui pourraient indiquer de mauvaises intentions envers sa personne dans son entourage, son pauvre cerveau frôlera le délire paranoïaque, mais sans rien perdre de sa géniale beauté. C’est dans cet état de trouble qu’il accomplira l’étrange projet suivant : « Je forme une entreprise qui n'eut jamais d'exemple et dont l'exécution n'aura point d'imitateurs. Je veux montrer à mes semblables un homme dans toute la vérité de la nature; et cet homme ce sera moi. » (t.1, 21)
Et il en raconte des choses sur sa personne. Il ne s’épargne rien. Il se montre sans pudeur dans toute sa fragilité et ses maladresses. Il fait de son auditoire une divinité analogue au Dieu chrétien, qui aurait besoin de se faire raconter ce qu’il savait déjà afin de lui accorder la reconnaissance de son bon cœur. Il est bien convaincu lui-même de son bon cœur : « Pour moi, je le déclare honnêtement et sans crainte : quiconque, même sans avoir lu mes écrits, examinera par ses propres yeux mon naturel, mon caractère, mes mœurs, mes penchants, mes plaisirs, mes habitudes, et pourra me croire malhonnête homme, est lui-même un homme à étouffer. »(t.2, 486) Mais il avait un cruel besoin d’être reconnu par un entourage qui le jugeait comme la règle juge toujours l’exception : comme une erreur, comme quelque chose de laid ou de mal.
Rousseau, on peut être en accord ou non avec ses idées, à mon avis, cela importe peu. Ce qu’il représente pour moi d’extraordinaire, c’est qu’il nous entraîne toujours à des considérations débordantes de bons sentiments, toujours belles et sincères et il me semble qu’on se doit de l’aimer. On le doit à ce que l’on a de meilleur en nous.
Avec moi, il gagne donc son pari haut la main. Je n’ai aucun doute qu’il ait été un honnête homme, c’est-à-dire une entité imparfaite, mais perfectible et remplie de la meilleure des volontés et des plus beaux sentiments.
Ceci dit, si je suis convaincu de cela, j’avoue que j’étais gagné d’avance par ses Discours, par son Émile, et surtout par son Héloïse!
(less)

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Mar 16, 2013 Mureen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"(هاك كل ما كنت أتمنى: قطعة أرض غير شاسعة
وحديقة، ونبع ماء فياض بقرب الدار
وإلى جانب هذا.. غابة صغيرة..)

هنا يبدأ هناء حياتي القصير، وهنا أقبلت اللحظات الوادعة -وإن كانت وجيزة- التي
أباحت لي الحق في أن أقول: "إنني عشت"!.. أيتها اللحظاتُ الغاليةُ، التي آسى
عليها كل الأسى.. ألا ابدئِي من جديد -من أجلي- سريانك الحبيب، وتتابعي
في ذاكرتي أكثر بطئا مما كنت في فرارك في الواقع، إذا كان هذا ممكناً."
-

كيف يمكن أن تعري حقيقتك برهافة حس.. أن تعود لذاتك بأكثر الطرق تصديقاً لذلك. أن تقف أمام العين الأكثر تحديقاً في...more

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امتنان ما ذا عن هذا الكتاب يا حبيبتي ؟ كيف رأته النجمة ؟
Mar 10, 2013 07:16pm

Mureen حبيبتي امتنان هو كتاب يسرد فيه روسو سيرة حياته على هيئة اعترافات بصورة أدبية أكثر منها فلسفية..هذه الاعترافات يتجرد فيها من كل ما يخالجه من مخاوف أو أ...more
Mar 18, 2013 02:56pm

امتنان شكراً جزيلاً حبيبتي ,
و أعرف أن مورين تحب الحرف ذا الحس الطفولي الصادق ,
و بالتأكيد أنا أشاركك هذا الحب ..

إن شاء الله سأقرأه لا أريد تفويت فرصة أن أقرأ...more
17 hours, 38 min ago

Dec 21, 2009 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Amazingly, Rousseau's fetish for being spanked and exposing himself in alleyways are not the most intriguing things in this book.

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Mar 24, 2009 Belmont added it

I can't stand this guy. self-centered, egotistical wanker

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Jul 07, 2007 Alex is currently reading it

Not as good as Augustine's, better than Usher's.

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May 09, 2013 Craig rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

Rousseau wore me down with this one. Maybe I just was not ready for it. His honesty about his darker days and less than wise moments is admirable. I do admire him for all he has contributed to the Romantic movement and on a literary level as well. I felt bogged down in some of the details of Paris society and the recurring problems he had in dealing with said society, good, bad, miscreant, and noble. I derived subtle pleasure from his description of his ease to forget misfortunes and to "call up...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Among the reasons I have enjoyed reading Rousseau's obsessively detailed, confessional autobiography is that I recognize in him a fellow book lover. Consider this quote from ""JJ": "I have lost or dismembered numbers of books through the habit of carrying them about with me everywhere, in the pigeon-house, in the garden, in the orchard, and in the vineyard. While occupied with something else, I put my book down at the foot of a tree or on a hedge ; I always forgot to take it up again, and, at th...more Among the reasons I have enjoyed reading Rousseau's obsessively detailed, confessional autobiography is that I recognize in him a fellow book lover. Consider this quote from ""JJ": "I have lost or dismembered numbers of books through the habit of carrying them about with me everywhere, in the pigeon-house, in the garden, in the orchard, and in the vineyard. While occupied with something else, I put my book down at the foot of a tree or on a hedge ; I always forgot to take it up again, and, at the end of a fortnight, I frequently found it rotted away, or eaten by ants and snails. This eagerness for learning became a mania which drove me nearly stupid, so incessantly was I employed with muttering something or other to myself."

However, I cannot recongnize in myself (thankfully) thin-skinned Rousseau's small-mindedness, petulance, defeatism, and general self-defeating actions. It is somewhat amazing the the author of The Social Contract had such a bizarrely unhealthy sex life, a streak of self-abasing confessionalism, and a Tesla-like ability to confound his own financial success and security through his intellectual property.

A few things made an impact on me and will stay with me from this book:

- In Rousseau's younger years, he was one of the rootless, poor vagabonds which dotted the landscape of Europe in the early 18th Century. That lifestyle, during which Rousseau typically wrecked his own chances of betterment time and time again, of cottage industries, patronage, and latent feudalism was a fascinating part of the work which I am sure is among the earliest examples of the hyper-confessional autobiography that is not uncommon today. (Lance Armstrong, where's yours?)

- In one bizarre episode Friedrich Melchior Von Grimm, Rousseau and another man of letters stop in to visit a simpleton tween sold off by her mother as a concubine. Grimm, apparently, claimed to have only lingered in the young girl's room to make the others wait and Rousseau typical sexual encounter was an episode of weeping self-loathing. He confesses the peccadillo in his mind to his wife (five children, all dropped off at the orphanage) who forgave him and then Grimm shows up to tell on Rousseau. So, what's Rousseau's take on this? Grimm is a jerk ... no commentary on the poor young girl, the motivations of her mother, or the general behavior of his colleagues. It was all par for the course in that day and age, apparently.

- I am amazed Rousseau gives so much of his supposed enemie's correspondence, which only supports the apparent fact that Rousseau was a self-destructive, peevish whiner.(less)

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Mar 03, 2012 Mahmoud Abusiam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

http://bit.ly/w3pLZd

بوسعي أن استهل تقديم الكتاب بعبارة سمجة مثل «لم أستطع إفلاته حتى فرغت منه» أو «تمنيت لو أني لم أنته منه» لكن ذلك سيكون إجحافا بحق «جان جاك روسو» و اعترافاته ، فلقد بلغ روسو من التجرد في تعرية قلبه ، وفضح مكنون صدره ، وكشف دخيلة نفسه ، ما لم يبلغه قطٌ أديبٌ قبله ولا بعده !ـ

كانت الاعترافات لتبدو زائفة لو أنها جاءت على لسان كاتب مغمور ، فلربما عاد عليه ذلك بشيء من الصّيت ، أما أن يسرد فيلسوف بوزن ومكانة «جان جاك روسو» المرموقة ، كل دواخله الدفينة على رؤوس الأشهاد ، طيبها وخبيثها...more

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Feb 27, 2012 Rae rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: english-class-readings

I only read the first part of it. It is probably a book I won't ever finish, though. It is his autobiography where he confesses the wrongs that he has done, yet he seems quite proud of these moments. The question posed in the class I'm reading this for was, "Does he accomplish his task of 'neither [omitting] anything bad, or [interpolating] anything good?'" I'm not sure that he does, but that is my own opinion. He seems to allow his pride at what he has done taint the truth he is trying to conve...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Roger Burk rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is an important book, and much of it is fun and even fascinating to read, especially the First Part, before he departs for Paris and fame. Let's start by giving Rousseau his due. He indeed lays bare his soul with preternatural honesty. Every youthful folly, sexual experiment, ridiculous crush, infatuation, extravagance, missed opportunity, and betrayal is told directly and openly. Maybe we all do some really cringe-inducing things when young, but I think Jean-Jacques was going for a record....more This is an important book, and much of it is fun and even fascinating to read, especially the First Part, before he departs for Paris and fame. Let's start by giving Rousseau his due. He indeed lays bare his soul with preternatural honesty. Every youthful folly, sexual experiment, ridiculous crush, infatuation, extravagance, missed opportunity, and betrayal is told directly and openly. Maybe we all do some really cringe-inducing things when young, but I think Jean-Jacques was going for a record. (He thinks no-one else will ever write so honest an autiobiography, perhaps underestimating 21st-century exhibitionism.) He tells the story simply and engagingly, if at a length that wears out one's fondness for this openhearted fellow. He knows well enough that he has unusual talents and is "a sort of being apart" (p. 643), but he also has warm human sentiments. He shows genuine affection for his uneducated longtime mistress, who bore him five children. He enjoys most of all a quiet retired life, walking in the woods, and "botanizing." He is equally willing to dine with a prince and sup with a peasant.

We should also take this into account: for most of his life it seems he suffered from an untreatable enlarged prostate that made urination painful and difficult. For a long time he suffered further from intrusive treatments guided by misdiagnosis as kidneystone. At one point a glass probe broke off in his urethra and could not be removed. Despite these afflictions, he seems genuinely to hold little malice towards others, even those he regards as underhanded enemies and treacherous false friends. He writes more in sorrow--great, lugubrious sorrow--than in anger.

On the other hand:

He does not suffer from false modesty. The bragging is not on every page, but Rousseau is careful to let us know of all the times he refrained from claiming credit for himself. His aims are the "most consistent with virtue that mortal has ever conceived" (p. 353). He has suffered "a fate of which there is no other example among mortal men" (408). He has "the most combustible temperament . . . that nature has perhaps ever produced" (436). He tells us, "Base vengeance is unworthy of my heart, and hatred will never find a foothold there" (462)--what a blessing to be so sure! His magnanimity is astounding (470). He is "all in all, the best of men" (505). He is sure that all the aristocratic women of Paris were available to him after the success of a novel (533). He expounds on his own rectitude, enthusiasm for equity, generosity of spirit, and innate love of justice (620). And he assures us, "I was never conceited" (432).

Of course, he makes enemies. To hear him tell it, he has a unique talent for picking as friends only those who will secretly turn on him. He must have an unnatural attraction for false friends and backstabbers, envious and capriciously malicious. They persecute him "out of inclination, out of caprice, and simply to amuse themselves" (p. 462). He may have developed real enemies, but it sure sounds to me like he had a touch of real paranoia, and his hold on reality was shaky at times. He saw conspiracies everywhere to defame, embarass, and annoy him. They are too pervasive, subtle, and pointlessly malicious to be believed.

He says that he would "eradicate from my heart everything that paid heed to the judgments of others" (p. 355). Maybe he should have paid some heed. He decides he will flout the customs of his time and place in order to be "independent," but then says he'd rather die than make an exhibition of himself (p. 370). When the people turn against him, he continues to invite jeers and abuse by going about in outlandish "Armenian" costume: caftan and fur cap. He says it is more comfortable because of his malady, and it would be "cowardly" to shed it to avoid public attention.

Dress may be a matter of principle, but religion is not. He converts to Catholicism as a youth after running away from an apprenticeship in Geneva. After his writings make him unpopular in France, he desires to return to Geneva (p. 383). He discovers that it is right and sensible to let local authorities decide forms of worship and points of unintelligible dogma, so returns to Protestantism. He assures himself that his own understanding of the Bible surpasses all others and that he has discovered the only way a reasonable man could be a Christian.

But even in Switzerland he is unpopular. He seems honestly bewildered that people could turn hostile just because he writes a few brilliant books that overturn all society, mores, and religion. How could people condemn a genius of such purity of heart? He cannot stay, and feels himself quite ill-used (622). He does not appreciate the irony of the great believer in the sovereignty of the popular will being driven out by popular antipathy.

I can't pass over his heartless treatment of his mistress and children. He praises Therese and seems to genuinely love her, but he declares he will never marry her, without saying why. (He finally did marry her after writing the Confessions.) He notes that his sometime friend Diderot did marry his mistress in similar circumstances, but attributes that to "a promise." I suppose this means a promise to marry, given in order to wangle sex. Apparently Therese extracted no such promise.

Most horrifyingly and unnaturally, Rousseau prevailed on Therese to deliver all five of their children anonymously to a foundling hospital at birth. He confesses this, of course, but it had become known anyway. He acknowledges that it was wrong, but says it was merely an intellectual error, and quickly forgives himself. He thought he was modeling his behavior on Plato's Republic, and that his children would be better off that way. It was not nearly so bad as the perfidy of whatever confidant revealed this secret! In his old age he bitterly regreted abandoning his children, but I think more because he was lonely than because he condemned them to lives of ignorance and toil at the bottom rung of society.

Rousseau takes Montaigne to task to confessing only to lovable faults in his memoirs. Rousseau himself mostly confesses to paltry or goldenhearted ones--laziness and youthful folly, trustfulness and unwise frankness. He is blind to his own intellectual faults--obliviousness to the opinions of others, and willingness to let an idea overrule common sense. He knows that "there is no human being in whose interior, however pure it may be, will not reveal some odious vice" (p. 505), but this is the man who said you can build a society on the asssumption that men are fundamentally good. Rousseau is blind to his own serious faults, and blind to the possibility of having faults he is blind to.(less)

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Jan 17, 2012 Jennifer Uhlich rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: research

This was hard work.

Until now my Rousseau experience had been from general philosophy classes, reading the Social Contract and the Discourse on Inequality; later I read bits of Emile and the New Heloise.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this certainly wasn't it. This is the best and worst of memoir, all at once: chock full of interesting details about one of the greater minds of the Enlightenment . . . and some pretty repugnant self-indulgent whining, as well as painting an overall portrait...more This was hard work.

Until now my Rousseau experience had been from general philosophy classes, reading the Social Contract and the Discourse on Inequality; later I read bits of Emile and the New Heloise.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this certainly wasn't it. This is the best and worst of memoir, all at once: chock full of interesting details about one of the greater minds of the Enlightenment . . . and some pretty repugnant self-indulgent whining, as well as painting an overall portrait of a guy I just don't want to spend any time with.

People applaud his frankness, especially his openness about his sexual experiences, and certainly a thorough reading of the Confessions ensures you will know more than you wanted to about M. Rousseau and what blows his hair back. More generally, the commended frankness has been picked over by more interested minds than mine, and from what a friend told me, many events and he-said she-said exchanges seem to have been, um, slightly reordered for better confessing . . . I'm not going to chase that particular thread because I can't be bothered, but just reading the Confessions cold I came away with an impression of a remarkable honesty: without hesitation Rousseau wallows in his biases and his paranoia, all nicely topped with copious dollops of insecurity and self-pity.

Admittedly I'm not making much allowance for context, for the historical period, for Rousseau's upbringing and circumstances; I'm indulging in my own bias in that I simply didn't like him, in fact I thought him a total *** from about Book II on. But I also developed a question as I read, a question that Rousseau never comes near to addressing, and that is: what spans the disjunction between the works, especially the political works, and the life lived? How does one get from dumping your five infant children onto the state (and over the protests of their mother) to writing Emile? How does one go from buying a 12-year-old girl to raise as a personal mistress to declaiming about property and inequality? Because he did make that journey, to such a sublime extent that much of what he wrote still feels fresh and relevant today. That transit, sadly, is something he chose not to confess, and that is the most pitiable thing in the whole sorry tale.(less)

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Sep 23, 2010 Frankie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: french

Dostoevsky mentioned this autobiography as an influence to his A Writer's Diary, particularly praising Rousseau for his unflinching relation of every sordid detail of his personal life. I think Dostoevsky was most awed by the indiscreet content of Confessions and surprised that it passed the censors in most countries, while Dostoevsky struggled with censorship constantly. There are surprising passages about homosexuality, masturbation, sexually-transmitted diseases – almost humorous when couched...more Dostoevsky mentioned this autobiography as an influence to his A Writer's Diary, particularly praising Rousseau for his unflinching relation of every sordid detail of his personal life. I think Dostoevsky was most awed by the indiscreet content of Confessions and surprised that it passed the censors in most countries, while Dostoevsky struggled with censorship constantly. There are surprising passages about homosexuality, masturbation, sexually-transmitted diseases – almost humorous when couched in Renaissance terminology.

I myself struggled with just reading it. The rhetoric is overwhelming, and though it's not a very long novel, it seemed ever longer in light of the mounting ennui which hundreds of digressions produced in me. I nearly gave up. The apologies, the ravings of injustice, the paranoid conjectures and the egomaniacal self analyses. Eventually, the narrator's premonitions, of course, pay off. The last quarter of the work proves the injustice of his supposed treatment. He certainly deserves to defend himself against the monsters he describes, but leaves serious doubts with any reader as to the motivations of his monsters (their alibi) and the ultimate truth of his stories.

In the end, I can't help but think that a man of so much sentiment and such inner fantasy cannot help but exaggerate his woes. I don't doubt his physical ailments, or his unjust political banishment; but his intrigues and plots, offensive letters and articles, presumptions and accusations – all seem like raving. For instance, I can't imagine any reason why certain characters, with whom he had fleeting contact, would devote their lives to plot against him to force him to move back to Paris. Maybe I missed something in the myriad explanations he provides, but my trust in the narrator began to diminish thereafter.

Aesthetically, it's a good read. It's a tragedy, and the above issues I have only lend themselves further to this. The first hint of romantic angst appears on the fifth page. "…I was born, a weak and ailing child; I cost my mother her life, and my birth was the first of my misfortunes." I enjoy the mood this type of tragedy instills in a reader, but it is loaded with unbearable sentiment. His later embrace of solitude is perhaps the best part of the book for me. He speaks on the affectations of society, the horror of idle conversation and the dissipation it leads to.

He does balance the book for the most part with gaiety. Flowery descriptions of nature, botany and the joys of spring, as it were. This is typical for an eighteenth century man of letters – to jaunt about meadows and throw himself down on a hammock while his servants powder his wig. I prefer to steer clear of romantic drivel, and I won't read any more Rousseau for this reason. I thought I might learn a bit from the realism of the memoir (and I did), but I can't help but question the honesty of the author.(less)

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Feb 25, 2010 Therese rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

The first half of this book is so charming, and I find myself liking the young Rousseau even as I cringe at his bumbling timidness and unfocused idiocy. He has a way with capturing memories, people's essences in their habits, and the beauty of places. There are passages from the first half of the book that rank as among the most charming descriptions I have ever read. But the second half of this book is intolerable, barely worth skimming through. Rousseau says it best himself: "I was a man so qu...more

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Jan 15, 2008 Ben rated it 3 of 5 stars

Rosseau's thoughts on happiness struck me as especially true. I can't remember exactly how it was worded, but he had realized that the happiest times in his life was when he was dreaming. Man is always reaching for something, but never really wants to achieve the goal-like chess, the joy is in the process not the final end. The joy a man gets from the whole process of achievement is the greatest when he dreams of what will be. He paints an ideological picture in his head of how things will be, g...more

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Sep 30, 2008 Aaron is currently reading it · review of another edition

I keep stopping and starting on this book. Let me read you my favorite paragraph thus far: "At length we lost her. I saw her die. Her life had been the life of a woman of talent and intelligence; her death was that of a philosopher. I can say that she inspired me with a feeling of esteem for the Catholic religion, by the cheerfulness of soul with which she fulfilled its instructions, without carelessness and without affectation. She was naturally of a serious disposition. Towards the end of her...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Donald rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this as a result of reading William Boyd's "New Confessions" which takes its inspiration from Rousseau. The early years are compelling, but as he ages, the book becomes less interesting. I was fascinated by his several references to masturbation which I should have thought would have been a taboo subject until I realized that the Marquis de Sade was also writing in France in the 1700s! At age 20, he states, "I was addicted to the vice". And at age 31, he confesses, "I had not given up my...more

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Sep 15, 2009 MohammadReza Erfani rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: سرگذشت-‌نامه

سفسطه‌ای که گمراهم کرد سفسطه‌ی اغلب مردم است؛ مردمی که هنگامی که دیگر برای به کار بردن قدرت بسیار دیر شده است، از نداشتن آن شکوه دارند. پرهیزکاری تنها بر اثر خطاکار بودن خود ما به نظرمان دشوار می‌آید. اگر بر آن بودیم که همواره عاقلانه و سنجیده رفتار کنیم، به ندرت نیازی به پرهیزکاری داشتیم. اما تمایلاتی که چیره شدن بر آن‌ها آسان است ما را بدون مقاومت به دنبال خود می‌کشاند.تسلیم وسوسه‌های ساده‌ای می‌شویم که خطرش را کوچک می‌شماریم. رفته رفته در دام موقعیت‌های مخاطره آمیزی می‌افتیم که می‌توانستیم خو...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Ehsan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, humor

اعترافات اثر : ژان ژاک روسو
(شرحی از رابطه اش با سوفی)_ از لحاظ سبک نگارش آورده شده.
... ما هر دو از بادۀ عشق آتشین سرمست بودیم، او برای معشوق و من برای او، آه ها و اشکهای لذت یخش ما با هم در آمیخت. ... او در بحبوحۀ مستی لذت بخش، برای یک لحظه هم خود را فراموش نمی کرد، و من جداً اعلام میدارم در آن لحظاتی که تحت تاٌثیر احساساتم سعی داشتم او را وادار به خیانت کنم، هیچگاه واقعاً آرزو نداشته ام موفق شوم. ...وظیفۀ انکار نفس، ذهن مرا ارتقاء مقام داده بود. ...امکان داشت من این جرم را مرتکب شوم، ارتکاب ا...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Kindra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: absolute-banger

Whoa, all hail to this father of the modern-day autobiography.
Rousseau was not lying when he declared his own work as a banger and his existence as one that has broken the mold (or something like that).
His insight is precise and the way that he is able to look back and report with such observation on his development through life is mind-blowing. Wow, talk about knowing thyself.

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Apr 19, 2013 حسين العُمري rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

ليست مجرد سيرة ذاتية بل اعترافات بكل ما تعنية الكلمة ،، في هذا الكتاب وبلغة أدبية عالية المستوى و بشفافية بالغة يحكي الفيلسوف والأديب و الموسيقي أحياناً جان جاك روسو مسيرة حياته وكثيراً من تفاصيلها و رؤيته للحياة و المجتمع والطبيعة والحب ،، روسو في هذا الكتاب وضع نفسه بين يدي القاريء وكثيراً ما يترك له الحكم بل والدهشة ،، كتاب ممتع ورحلة طويلة مع روسو في تقلباته و أفكاره وعواطفه

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About Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau remains an important figure in the history of philosophy, both because of his contributions to political philosophy and moral psychology and because of his influence on later thinkers. Rousseau's own view of philosophy and philosophers was firmly negative, seeing philosophers as the post-hoc rationalizers of self-interest, as apologists for various forms of tyranny, and as pl...more Jean-Jacques Rousseau remains an important figure in the history of philosophy, both because of his contributions to political philosophy and moral psychology and because of his influence on later thinkers. Rousseau's own view of philosophy and philosophers was firmly negative, seeing philosophers as the post-hoc rationalizers of self-interest, as apologists for various forms of tyranny, and as playing a role in the alienation of the modern individual from humanity's natural impulse to compassion. The concern that dominates Rousseau's work is to find a way of preserving human freedom in a world where human beings are increasingly dependent on one another for the satisfaction of their needs. This concern has two dimensions: material and psychological, of which the latter has greater importance. In the modern world, human beings come to derive their very sense of self from the opinion of others, a fact which Rousseau sees as corrosive of freedom and destructive of individual authenticity. In his mature work, he principally explores two routes to achieving and protecting freedom: the first is a political one aimed at constructing political institutions that allow for the co-existence of free and equal citizens in a community where they themselves are sovereign; the second is a project for child development and education that fosters autonomy and avoids the development of the most destructive forms of self-interest. However, though Rousseau believes the co-existence of human beings in relations of equality and freedom is possible, he is consistently and overwhelmingly pessimistic that humanity will escape from a dystopia of alienation, oppression, and unfreedom. In addition to his contributions to philosophy, Rousseau was active as a composer and a music theorist, as the pioneer of modern autobiography, as a novelist, and as a botanist. Rousseau's appreciation of the wonders of nature and his stress on the importance of feeling and emotion made him an important influence on and anticipator of the romantic movement. To a very large extent, the interests and concerns that mark his philosophical work also inform these other activities, and Rousseau's contributions in ostensibly non-philosophical fields often serve to illuminate his philosophical commitments and arguments.
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“There are times when I am so unlike myself that I might be taken for someone else of an entirely opposite character.” — 3 people liked it

“My love for imaginary objects and my facility in lending myself to them ended by disillusioning me with everything around me, and determined that love of solitude which I have retained ever since that time.” — 2 people liked it

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