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In order to grasp what it means to call Rousseau an author of the Revolution, as so many revolutionaries did, it is necessary to take full measure of the difficulties of literary interpretation to which Rousseau s work gives rise, particularly around such a charged term as author. On Jean-Jacques Rousseau shows that Rousseau s texts consistently generate a division in their own reading, a division both designated and masked by the fiction of authorship. These divisions can occur successively as in the narrative reversals and discontinuities characteristic of Rousseau s fictional and autobiographical works or simultaneously, in the form of incompatible attempts to apply the lessons of a single text to an urgent historical moment. Given the structure of these texts, their influence can only occur in an equally paradoxical form. Rousseau s contribution to revolutionary thinking lies in his conceptualization of the constitutive function of misunderstanding and narrative discontinuity, in history and political action as well as in literature.
In order to grasp what it means to call Rousseau an author of the Revolution, as so many revolutionaries did, it is necessary to take full measure of the difficulties of literary interpretation to which Rousseau s work gives rise, particularly around such a charged term as author. On Jean-Jacques Rousseau shows that Rousseau s texts consistently generate a division in their own reading, a division both designated and masked by the fiction of authorship. These divisions can occur successively as in the narrative reversals and discontinuities characteristic of Rousseau s fictional and autobiographical works or simultaneously, in the form of incompatible attempts to apply the lessons of a single text to an urgent historical moment. Given the structure of these texts, their influence can only occur in an equally paradoxical form. Rousseau s contribution to revolutionary thinking lies in his conceptualization of the constitutive function of misunderstanding and narrative discontinuity, in history and political action as well as in literature.
Preface 1. Intellectual, cultural and ideological origins 2. The unnatural order of enlightenment universal history 3. The author of nature 4. The author of the revolution Notes Bibliography Index.
James Swenson is Assistant Professor of French at Rutgers University.
"This book is a tour de force, carefully argued, erudite, beautifully written, and strikingly original. It offers a new understanding about an idea that is almost a cliche for historians of the French Revolution - that Rousseau's political writings somehow 'caused' the revolution. Swenson problematizes this causality ... by looking at Rousseau's entire oeuvre." - Joan Scott, Institute for Advanced Study "Recent emphasis on the political culture of the French Revolution has renewed interest in the relationship between the Revolution and the Enlightenment, including the importance of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. James Swenson's fascinating study contributes to this discussion." - Canadian Journal of History "In a series of well-informed, stimulating, and thought-provoking chapters, Swenson traces the connections between Rousseau's political thought and various passages in his autobiographical writings and his works of fiction." - The New York Review "To advance the understanding of a major author and the understanding of a classic historical problem is an admirable feat." - Journal of Modern History
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