The Confessions (Classics of World Literature) - Softcover

Rousseau, Jean-Jaques

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853264652 ISBN 13: 9781853264658

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions, 1996

Synopsis

This translation first appeared in a privately printed edition in 1904 (the translator remains anonymous).

With an Introduction by Derek Matravers.

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.

About this title

About the Author

A philosopher, literary figure, and composer, Jean - Jacques Rousseau(1712 - 1778) was born in Geneva. Left alone at 10, he moved to Paris when he was 16. His ideas and philosophies laid the foundations of the French Revolution and for the liberal and socialist doctrines of Europe. Confessions gave a new turn to the art of autobiography - writing. The Social Contract is his most important work-it deciphers the relationship between man and society.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1853264652
• ISBN 13: 9781853264658
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 672