Confessions
Jean Jacques Rousseau
1782
Around 480 pages
Well, this is, at last, the end of Rousseau. I cannot honestly say I am sad to see him go, though he did have some great insight. This last work was an autobiography. I usually avoid autobiographies like the plague. I really don't care about a famous person's childhood. Just show me what you did to be remarkable and then kindly shut up. However, because of this list, we are forced to journey all the way back to the day Rousseau was born.
In my opinion, this book is only motivated by guilt. He felt like he had to confess random things he did that he always regretted, including framing a servant for a ribbon he himself sold. Well, I hope this helped alleviate his guilt. However, I really don't give a damn. I expected to at least be introduced to some new philosophical ideas he might have had. But I was disappointed. He simply talked and talked about his apprenticeship, his female amours, and his regrets. In truth, I felt trapped and alarmed, like you would if someone you didn't know that well burst into tears and it was up to you to comfort them. A tedious task, and one that should be avoided.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
You can actually see how hypocritical he is from this book; though he claims he would be the perfect father in Emile, he abandoned five of his children to an orphanage.
Frequently inaccurate (wrong dates, different order of events, etc.).
One of the first autobiographies to be about feelings and events; most were about people's religious experiences.
The quote "let them eat cake" was found in this book, though it is frequently attributed to Marie Antoinette.
Reveries of a Solitary Walker
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1782
Around 110 pages
I feel like I always start my posts by apologizing for how long it has been since my last one and this post will be no exception. This took forever to get to my house but only took me about an hour to read. I have, however, been reading a lot of books from the 1700s (Mysteries of Udolpho, Cecelia, Confessions, etc.) so I will have posts more regularly. I also started Ulysses. If reading Joyce's prose isn't hell, I don't know what is.
As far as authors in the list goes, we have really been with Rousseau from the beginning. He was pretty much a celebrity when Julie came out, had his book burned when Emile came out, and now is in exile. I have already started to read his last book, Confessions, which is a very long autobiography. This novel is so strikingly similar that I really see no reason to have both on the list. Curse the list makers!
Anyway, this novel is about 100 pages of whining about society. However, Rousseau happens to be a phenomenal writer so even his whining sounds beautiful. It reminded me of the album John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band. Incredibly whiny but you love the whiner so much that you suffer through it.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
Unfinished.
Mix of anecdotes and descriptions.
Emile, ou de l'Education
Emile, or on Education
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1762
Approximately 500 pages
Well, that was painful. I guess I had it coming though since I had a really good streak of books lately. I have been head over heels in love with the Enlightenment thinkers and I also read Jane Eyre and The Elegance of a Hedgehog which are both absolutely incredible and inspiring. Yeah, I had it coming.
I want to start by saying that I really liked this book at first. I had raved about Rousseau in earlier posts and the book's premise sounded interesting enough. This book is just a series of essays written by Rousseau about how he educated his imaginary pupil, Emile, in each stage of his life. I at one point even entertained delirious thoughts about using this book as a guide for educating my own children if I ever became a mother. Then everything went to hell.
First of all, this book wasn't written for women. Rousseau treated the reader like a future father so I felt like an outsider. I imagine I would have a similar feeling if I ever went to a Superbowl party. Not really in on the jokes and completely bored. Also, he kept yelling at me. Throughout the novel, he called the reader womanly, hardened, and cruel. Finally, he treated Emile as if he was his life work; I don't think he ever said he loved him. Rousseau kept bragging about how much of Emile he controlled and how he was in charge of every aspect of Emile's life (even his wife). What a nightmare of a father-in-law he would be.
Don't even get me started on the last book of the novel, "Sophie." This is where he talks about how women should be educated. So I knew going into this that it was going to be offensive. This was written in the 1760s and Rousseau was sexist. I get it. But in spite of myself, I got upset. Insult after insult for about a hundred pages wears people down.
I thought Rousseau and I were buddies; I feel so betrayed. He is officially out of the running for my favorite Enlightenment thinker; vote on yours at the top of the blog!
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
This novel was publicly burned in 1762 for the way it discussed religion.
One idea that I do agree with is to let your child pick their own religion when they are at "the age of reason" (which Rousseau said could never be reached by women; ha).
Emile was the inspiration of the educational system during the French Revolution.
Rousseau considered this his best work.
I am happy to see some new followers.:)
La Nouvelle Heloise
Julie, or the New Heloise
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1761
This novel really was a roller coaster ride for me. I went from hating it, to liking it, to disliking it, and finally to loving it. I read Moby Dick in between this and my last book and that was not as much as an experience for me, although Moby Dick is infinitely better known.
Let's start with why I initially hated it. The book started out with the most insecure, insufferable whiners I had ever had the misfortune of reading about. Saint-Preux was in love with Julie, who he had tutored all through her childhood. I think it would have been interesting to read about how they fell in love but the novel picks up after they are already sickeningly committed to each other. Their letters, though filled with romantic language, were actually quite vicious to each other, and I predicted a murder-suicide. In one chapter, Julie sent Saint-Preux a portrait of herself. She wanted it to be really accurate so he wouldn't fall in love with "charms she did not possess" because then he would be unfaithful. Maybe she had good reason for being insecure, because Saint Preux later ended up sleeping with a prostitute in a whorehouse. He says it wasn't his fault because he was drunk and had mistaken white wine for water. Never fall for that line ladies.
Anyway, about half way through the novel, the whining stops and a really bittersweet resolution appears. Of course, to tell you why I like it so much would ruin it for you, so I must stop myself. After that, Rousseau gets too preoccupied with secondary characters (the cause of my disliking phase). At the end, though, Rousseau's writing is absolutely phenomenal which is reason enough to read it. In fact, I had to keep reading out loud his last end note to random people because it was so sweet and thought-provoking. So check it out, but don't buy a copy off Amazon because their versions suck.
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
This novel was so successful that publishers could not print copies fast enough and ended up having to rent out copies, sometimes by the hour. People loved the book so much that they flooded Rousseau with letters, making him the first "celebrity author".
Voltaire called the novel's success "the infamy of the century". Jealous, much?
