Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his world

Fülszöveg

Jean-Jacques Rousseau stands as one of the most important precursors of Romanticism. His view that Man's essential nature tended to be corrupted and distorted by society, his belief in the 'noble savage', his advocacy of the simple life and his conviction that there are fundamental humán rights and liberties made him a powerful influence on later writers and thinkers. Yet the details of his own life were far from exemplary-he was faithless in his relations with women, even with his patroness Mme de Warens; he abandoned his five children to a foundling hospitál; and he cultivated thanklessness to many who showed him kindnesses. In spite of this extraordinary discrepancy between thought and action, Rousseau became generally recognized as a genius by the men of note and learning in his time. Sir Gavin de Beer has long had an interest in the work and life of this enigmatic figure. His own researches have been responsible for the precise identification of a number of the personalities... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Jean-Jacques Rousseau stands as one of the most important precursors of Romanticism. His view that Man's essential nature tended to be corrupted and distorted by society, his belief in the 'noble savage', his advocacy of the simple life and his conviction that there are fundamental humán rights and liberties made him a powerful influence on later writers and thinkers. Yet the details of his own life were far from exemplary-he was faithless in his relations with women, even with his patroness Mme de Warens; he abandoned his five children to a foundling hospitál; and he cultivated thanklessness to many who showed him kindnesses. In spite of this extraordinary discrepancy between thought and action, Rousseau became generally recognized as a genius by the men of note and learning in his time. Sir Gavin de Beer has long had an interest in the work and life of this enigmatic figure. His own researches have been responsible for the precise identification of a number of the personalities who came within Rousseau's orbit and have clarified Rousseau's movements, particularly in Britain. With the aid of an exceptional collection of contemporary illustrations, he authoritatively marshals the details of Rousseau's wanderings and his relations with such contemporaries as Voltaire, Hume and the Encyclopedists, and succinctly analyses the character of his main works. Sir Gavin de Beer is the author of many books, including Gibbon and his world, and Hannibal: The Struggle for Power in the Mediterranean. Vissza