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More About This Textbook
Overview
Based on his doctrine of natural goodness, Rousseau intended the Confessions as a testing ground to explore his belief that, as Christopher Kelly writes, "people are to be measured by the depth and nature of their feelings." Re-created here in a meticulously documented new translation based on the definitive Pleiade edition, the work represents Rousseau's attempt to forge connections among his beliefs, his feelings, and his life. More than a "behind-the-scenes look at the private life of a public man," Kelly writes, "the Confessions is at the center of Rousseau's philosophical enterprise."
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
"Enhanced by revealing slices of the correspondence . . . an exemplary introduction and notes . . . An English translation of the French classic has to bear comparison with J. M. Cohen's Penguin Classics version of 1953. Kelley passes that test with flying colors . . . Kelly's will certainly endure as the work of reference in English, as Bernard Gagnebin's Pleiade edition of 1959 provides the basic reference in French." --CivilizationLibrary Journal
Kelly's careful translation, based on the latest French critical edition, seems likely to become the standard English version of the Confessions. In his helpful introductory essay, Kelly claims that Rousseau's work has more than biographical importance. Rousseau's portrayal of events in his life often illuminates themes in his political philosophy. His elaborate accounts of conspiracies against him, by Friedrich Melchior Baron von Grimm and others, help to explain his doctrines of natural goodness and virtue. Because Kelly believes that Rousseau wrote the Confessions with extraordinary care, he has paid attention in his translation even to such minor details as variant spellings of persons and place names. This edition includes several letters from Rousseau to Chrtien Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes and supplies helpful explanatory notes. Highly recommended.-David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ., OhioProduct Details
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