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The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
That one thing you did as a kid and blamed on someone else? Rousseau stole a ribbon, blamed the maid, and was still confessing it decades later. 🎀
Who it's for
Rousseau sets out to show himself completely, including episodes most people would hide, and the reader feels the relief and discomfort of that honesty.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions is an autobiography covering the first 53 years of his life, up to 1765. It was written between 1765 and 1770 and published after his death in two parts of six books each, in 1782 and 1789. It was one of the first autobiographies to focus on personal, worldly experience rather than religious matters.
Where to find it
Public domain in the US (French original and older English translations; free on Project Gutenberg). Modern translations in print (Penguin, Oxford) and via libraries (Libby/Hoopla); audiobook editions.
Before you start
Heads up: Childhood abuse with a sexual dimension.
Age: Ages 16+
No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
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