Engaging with Rousseau: Reaction and Interpretation from the Eighteenth Century to the Present

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a champion of Enlightenment and Romanticism, a father figure of radical revolutionaries and totalitarian dictators, an inventor of the modern notion of the self, and an advocate of stern ancient republicanism. This book examines engagement with his works and self-fashioning, especially in turbulent times, his defiant public identity, and his call for regeneration.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 243 pages
Publication date: 14 February 2019
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Jean-Jacques Rousseau has been portrayed as a champion of the Enlightenment and a beacon of Romanticism, a father figure of radical revolutionaries and totalitarian dictators alike, an inventor of the modern notion of the self, and an advocate of stern ancient republicanism. Engaging with Rousseau's writings treats them as an enduring topic of debate, examining the diverse responses they have attracted from the Enlightenment to the present. Such notions as the general will, for example, were refracted through very different prisms during the struggle for independence in Latin America and in social conflicts in Eastern Europe, or modified by thinkers from Kant to contemporary political theorists. Beyond Rousseau's ideas, his public image too traveled around the world. This book examines engagement with Rousseau's works as well as with his self-fashioning; especially in turbulent times, his defiant public identity and his call for regeneration were admired or despised by intellectuals and political agents.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau has been portrayed as a champion of the Enlightenment and a beacon of Romanticism, a father figure of radical revolutionaries and totalitarian dictators alike, an inventor of the modern notion of the self, and an advocate of stern ancient republicanism. Engaging with Rousseau's writings treats them as an enduring topic of debate, examining the diverse responses they have attracted from the Enlightenment to the present. Such notions as the general will, for example, were refracted through very different prisms during the struggle for independence in Latin America and in social conflicts in Eastern Europe, or modified by thinkers from Kant to contemporary political theorists. Beyond Rousseau's ideas, his public image too traveled around the world. This book examines engagement with Rousseau's works as well as with his self-fashioning; especially in turbulent times, his defiant public identity and his call for regeneration were admired or despised by intellectuals and political agents.

Weight: 366g
Dimension: 151 x 228 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108705189