Confessions

Basic Info

Author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Year: 1782
Type: #primary2

Summary (brief)

Written between 1764 and 1770; explores inner life; suggests that self-knowledge comes from understanding the unconscious, the impact of childhood, and the role of sexuality; anticipates modern psychoanalysis; Rousseau really thinks he is sincerely struggling for a morality based on conscience and feelings rather than external authority; foundational work of introspection

Major Themes

#interiority
#shame
#confession
#morality
#radicalselfexposure

Key Passages / Quotes

Quote 1

#quote

quote:: “My passions, when roused, are intense, and, so long as I am activated by them, nothing equals my impetuosity. I no longer know moderation, respect, fear, propriety; I am cynical, brazen, violent, fearless; no sense of shame deters me, no danger alarms me. Except for the object of my passion, the whole world is as nothing to me; but this only lasts for a moment, and the next I am plunged into utter dejection”
page:: Part 1, Book 1, P.36
themes:: #shame #confession

Genre Notes

#autobiography
Covers first 53 years of his life

Lineage thrives through autofiction and autotheory

Characters / Concepts (if relevant)

Theory Connections

My Argument / Interpretation

Dissertation Relevance

How could this matter to my project?

Critical Questions

How to narrate a life story
How do genre & craft shape truth
how 20-21st writers draw or react