The Confessions

"The Confessions" were written between 1765 and 1769 in an effort to react to the persecutions that Rousseau suffered even at the hands of former friends. They are divided chronologically into two parts. The first, which follows the formative years of the philosopher, is the most accessible and most often studied. Although much of what he has to tell is embarrassing, Rousseau seems to delight in dwelling on the pleasure that he felt in being spanked by the Mlle Lambercier, the sister of the pastor to whom his early education had been confided. He is willing to indulge his reader in scenes of food stealing while he is serving his apprenticeship and to reveal the humiliation of being replaced by another young man in the affections of Mme de Warens.



In "The Confessions", Rousseau claims to be absolutely honest, to hold back nothing of the "truth of nature." Second, he feels he is different from all other people, and it is the value of this difference that he desires his reader to judge.