Reviews

Confessions by Angela Scholar, Patrick Coleman, Jean-Jacques Rousseau

mehitabels's review against another edition

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4.0

I'm totally counting for my English class reading, since I actually read this with more intent than anything I've read in the past, oh, 15 years. what? fine, 17 years, hush up.

I actually enjoyed it too, Rousseau turns out to be hilarious if you don't take him too seriously. and what a pervert! surprise surprise surprise.

allieoakesreads's review against another edition

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2.25

He is a pervert!

astrono9's review

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informative reflective slow-paced

2.25

jonbrammer's review against another edition

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5.0

Really just an astonishing memoir, and not at all what I was expecting. Instead of a dry, didactic, rationalist, Enlightenment-era reflection, this is a warts-and-all, somewhat unreliable, page-turner that includes several jaw-dropping revelations. He gave all five of his children away to a foundling hospital!! He shacked up with his mistress Therese (who was the daughter of his servant). He was involved in at least one menage a trois.

The Confessions does not include any discussion of Rousseau's philosophy, although through his gradual turn to misanthropy and his retreat to nature, he exemplifies a sort of proto-Romantic hero. Because his work was considered heretical by the Jesuits in France, he was forced into exile and spent several years running from one safe haven to another. The Confessions is the earliest memoir I have read that feels contemporary. Augustine's Confessions were written ultimately to make converts; Rousseau on the other hand, wants to tell the truth of his life.

jemmak's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

3.0

breadandmushrooms's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

3.0

ziizii's review against another edition

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3.0

#زندگینامه ، کتاب اول، اردیبهشت ۹۹:

کتاب پرحجم #اعترافات در ۸۰۰ صفحه روایت گر سرنوشت #ژان_ژاک_روسو، یکی از شناخته شده ترین نویسندگان قرن هجدهم فرانسه است که به عنوان تاثیرگذارترین فرد در ظهور مکتب رمانتیسم نیز محسوب میشود. این کتاب در دو جلد و دوازده فصل از دیدگاه اول شخص " من "، بخش های مختلف از زندگی این نویسنده را به قلم خودش به تصویر کشیده و برای اولین بار از احساسات و تخیلات آدمی در متون ادبی حرف زده است. در عین تعجب، لحن نوشتاری و محتوای دو جلد کاملا متفاوت بوده و تاثیر متفاوتی نیز بر خواننده می گذارند؛ جلد اول شامل دوران کودکی و جوانی نویسنده است که پر از اشتباهات و شور و شوق و حماقت های جوانی و سادگی و عشق های سوزان است که در مدت زمان سفر های بسیار راوی و در طول جاده هایی بی نام پرداخته شده اند. شخصا از روایت ها و توصیفات این جلد لذت عجیب برده و با توصیفات جزئی و زیبایش درباره طبیعت جادو شدم. ولی امان از جلد دوم و محتوای کلافه کننده و دلسرد کننده لحن نویسنده در قانع کردن صد در صد مخاطب بر فلاکت همیشگی و مظلومیت وی در مقابله با دسیسه های آشنایان!!! که درواقع چیزی جز غر غر های بی نهایت طویل و پر از هجو سر پیری نیست :/ فصل های نهایی منو تا مرز ریز ریز کردن کتاب برد و برگردوند. در کل، روسو در تمام طول کتاب دوم، که روایت گر سرنوشت و ماجراجویی های دوران بزرگسالی اش است، تنها هم و غم اش در موجه جلوه دادن تمامی تصمیمات و درست بودن تمامی افکارش می باشد.
در نهایت، خوانش این کتاب را صرفا برای سرگرمی پیشنهاد نمیکنم و بهتر است برای آشنایی بیشتر با این نویسنده با آثار دیگرش شروع کنید. ولی مطمئنا مطالعه این کتاب هم برای کسانی که به طور حرفه ای فلسفه ی این نویسنده رو دنبال کرده و طرفدار نقد های سیاسی اش هستند الزامی است، تا دیدگاه بهتری نسبت به زندگی و شرایطش داشته باشند. .

《 روسو احساس نیاز می کرد که خود را به عنوان الگویی قابل تقلید، هم برای معاصران و هم برای آیندگان معرفی کند؛ بنابراین در شرح حال خود سخن از جوهر ادبیات به میان می آورد و اگر چنین نکرده بود ،اعترافات او و سایر نوشته هایی از این دست خالی از فایده می نمود. شرح حال روسو در واقع در مرکز نظام فلسفی روسو جا دارد. اگر چه به نظر روسو تمدن مایه بدبختی بشر است، مع هذا روسو زندگی خود را نمونه تلاشی تحسین برانگیز برای نجات از این بدبختی نگاه می کند زیرا تلاش می کند با شفافیت روح و روان خویش تیرگی های حاکم بر جامعه را جبران کند. 》

#تاریخ‌ادبیات‌‌فرانسه‌قرن‌هجدهم‌

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raincorbyn's review against another edition

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2.0

It would be easy to rip on Rousseau as a human, and so I will.

“There are moments when a man is seized by a sort of madness and should not be judged by his actions,” writes the Enlightenment’s most influential philosopher, in a borderline fraudulent memoir clearly designed to influence others’ judgment of him as a person. Makes you want to scream.

The Confessions is at times a great read, once understood as a deeply dishonest spin-job by one of history’s most influential creeps, narcissists, and grifters. You cringe reading his confession/brags of his vanity and willingness to ruin others for the smallest crumbs of attention, advancement, and validation. Then remember that this is the dude so many view as one of the great moral thinkers, and you die a little.

He confesses to much genuinely shocking skullduggery we can only assume did occur, “balanced” with boasts that are highly contested by those around him. He is considered to have plagiarized music from Rameau and his breakout essay from Diderot, and his claims to have saved at least two towns from invasion by mailing letters on time are incredible.

His celebrated Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, he admits to pulling out of his ass to be contrarian, having no actual opinion on the subject, but knowing a hot clickbait title when he thinks of one. When he got the praise he hoped for, he rode the wave of “just make stuff up and see what sticks” for his whole life, which generated countless enemies in his time, and devotees to the present day.

His life on the run from his own bad choices is amusing at times, and exasperating at others. Year after year, he seizes on any angle he can for attention of any sort, and slimes his way into fathering centuries of solipsism, cruelty, and alternative facts.

Rousseau is that guy at the dive bar whose entrance leads to groans and eyerolls, and whose exit is usually a physical expulsion at the hands of staff or clients, but in the meantime, draws a crowd because people can’t believe the audacity of this bitch. Bit of a shame he is such a celebrated thinker, but let this bozo's success diminish all of our impostor syndrome.

azure_dawn's review

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DNF!!!!!!!!!!
I'll finish it later, when I'll be doing a deep dive into french revoluton. For now, there is no god strong enough to give me power to get through this boredom-fiesta. There are a lot of cool thoughts and ideas presented by the Jean, but goddamn is it all buried in tonns of unneeded details about his love-life. I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT GIRL YOU LIKED FOR 3 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

banhen's review

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4.0

Les mommy issues....