Jean-Jacques Rousseau ecrivain polemique

Simultanement sujet et objet de multiples debats et controverses, Jean-Jacques Rousseau n'a jamais cesse de produire et de susciter des differends, qu'ils soient personnels ou philosophiques. Auteur proprement en conflit avec son siecle, le Citoyen de Geneve intervient dans l'arene publique en prenant partie dans d'importants debats ideologiques: ces querelles qui ont structure le champ litteraire et politique sont l'objet de ce livre. On y analyse le role et la force de la polemique dans les oeuvres de Rousseau. Prenant Les Confessions a rebours, cette etude met au jour un autre Rousseau : non la victime passive et innocente d'une reception hostile, mais un acteur majeur de ces conflits, c'est-a-dire un ecrivain polemique.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau ecrivain polemique focuses on the ways in which Rousseau's career was constructed in a constant engagement with the practice of polemics and refutation in the fields of politics, religion, and philosophy. Known throughout Europe for his highly controversial writings and for the intense polemics to which they gave rise in the realm of public opinion, Jean-Jacques Rousseau became in his lifetime the object of unprecedented public interest and scrutiny. The very public quarrels and controversies that accompanied the publication and reception of his works were instrumental in establishing a new role for the writer, making Rousseau an ideal case study for this major shift in the relationship between writers and a rapidly changing and newly dynamic public sphere.