| Description |
Rousseau's life offers an image ofa human being who makes many mistakes, who often retraces his steps, who turns more than once against himself, burning that which he admires and admiring that which he burns. While greatly in need of social contact and recognition, Rousseau is disgusted with social circles and the falseness of individual virtue. Yet, in both his character and work, Rousseau expresses better than any other writer of the age the often self-contradictory social and humanistic concerns ofthe times: an abiding regard for social reform and the welfare of the masses and a consuming interest in the uniqueness and marked peculiarity of the individual. The purpose of the Confessions, then, is the defense of Rousseau's life against the attacks of his enemies. The book is also a detailed, dispassionate study of man's primitive nature, deemed to go hand in hand with a sentimental portrayal of the individual's soul. The accomplishment of Rousseau is to show, for the first time, the true nature of the human being, its duality, multiple personalities, contradictions, and oppositions. The Confessions reveals Rousseau as a struggling, confused man trying to reconcile a conflict between being a writer and a human being. The detailed description of the author's childhood and youth becomes a key to his unique personality and offers an opportunity for its analysis. |
