Rousseau’s Occasional Autobiographies PDF
Preview Rousseau’s Occasional Autobiographies
In this lively study of autobiography in the making, Susan K. Jackson looks at the ways in which Rousseau’s earlier occasional work informed his later auto- biographical masterpiece, Confessions ; which some have credited with initiat- ing autobiography in its modern form. Jackson’s study begins with the prem- ise that Confessions did not represent the first time that Rousseau became in- own terested in writing the story of his although Rousseau himself claimed life, it was. Rather, Jackson traces his preoc- cupation with autobiography, which she shows began as early as 1752 through , many ofhis occasional and less well- known works. Reading Confessions in tandem with a series of texts that Rous- seau insisted were occasional (texts that include personal Lettres in response to Malesherbes and belles-lettres ofpur- ported response to the official condem- nation ofhis own Emile), Jackson shows that Rousseau did not suddenly leap into autobiography as a way to challenge pre- vailing philosophical and literary limits. Time and time again, Rousseau encoded himself in earlier works; therefore, Jack- son argues, Confessions can only be fully appreciated if read in conjunction with earlier self-inscribed works. Jackson goes on to place Rousseau and his writing OMNIVM CIVJVAi BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive 2017 with funding from in Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/rousseausoccasioOOjack ROUSSEAU’S OCCASIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES Rousseau’s Occasional Autobiographies K Susan Jackson Ohio State University Press Columbus © Copyright 1992 by the Ohio State University Press. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jackson, Susan K. Rousseau’s occasional autobiographies / Susan K. Jackson, cm. p. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8142-0565-8 (alk. paper) — 1. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712—1778 Biography. 2. Authors, — — French Biography History and criticism. 3- Autobiography. I. Title. PQ2043.J33 1991 848'.509—dc20 [B] 91_34284 CIP Text and jacket design by Donna Hartwick. Type set in Garamond by The Composing Room of Michigan, Grand Rapids, MI. Printed by Versa Press, East Peoria, IL. Contents Preface vii On Introduction: the Occasional 1 1. Echoing Narcisse. The Self-Portraitist as Prefacer 19 2. Rededications: Auto-avilissement and Autobiography 57 (Without) Naming Names: The Preface deJulie 104 3. 4. What the Censor Saw: Lettres a Malesherbes 142 5. Ultimate Sacrifices: Le Levite d’Ephratm 187 Conclusion: Theorizing the Practice of Occasional Autobiography 230 Notes 255 Index 273
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