JEAN
JACQUES ROUSSEAU
THE LIFE OF ROUSSEAU. Jean Jacques Rousseau's life and work are described here in six parts:
2. YEARS OF TRAVEL. Shortly after leaving Geneva, Rousseau represented himself as a potential convert to a Catholic priest. After becoming a Catholic convert, he left Turin richer by twenty francs. He took service as a footman to a noblewoman, Madame de Vercelli. He revealed in his Confessions that he accused falsely a servant girl of giving him a stolen ribbon in order to escape punishment for stealing the ribbon. Madame de Warens, a wealthy widow, took him into her household. He lived with her as her kept lover for over nine years. She provided the means for him to receive a rudimentary classical education and a knowledge of music. In 1738 he left upon a journey to Montpellier to improve his health. He took a Madame de Larnage along with him. Upon his return to the country house of Madame de Warens outside of Chambery, he discovered that a man named Vintzenried had replaced him in the role of "amant en titre .
3. LITERARY YEARS. After an abortive attempt at teaching (a profession he thoroughly disliked), failure to obtain recognition for his system of musical notation and unsatisfactory service as secretary to the French Ambassador in Venice, he returned to Paris in 1745. He took Therese le Vasseur, a servant in his hotel, as his mistress. She is described as ugly, ignorant and illiterate. Yet they had five children, each of which was carried by Rousseau to the Foundling Hospital to be raised as orphans. In 1749 Rousseau won the literary prize offered by the Academy of Dijon for an essay entitled, "Discours sur les arts et sciences." This essay won him great literary fame. Upon a visit to Geneva in 1754, Rousseau rejoined the Protestant Church and regained his citizenship rights.
4. MAJOR WRITINGS. In 1756 Rousseau moved into a cottage near Montmorency (famous as the "Hermitage"), established for him by Madame d'Epinay. In 1761 his novel "La' Nouvelle Heloise," which celebrated his love for Madame d'Houdetot, was published. He quarreled with Madame d'Epinay, with Diderot and the philosophy circle, and finally with Voltaire. Although in years to come he had many patrons, he fought with each one of them. In 1762 the political work "The Social Contract" and the novel "Emile" were published.
5. EXILE. The Social Contract, which favored the democratic city-state, and Emile, which recommended a natural religion, rejecting revelation and dogma, brought upon Rousseau the condemnation of the French Monarchy and the admiration of literary and philosophical circles in Europe. Forced to leave France, Rousseau was befriended by Hume in England. However, the growing mental illness of Rousseau reasserted itself and, thinking himself persecuted, he returned to France.
6. LAST YEARS. Rousseau returned to Paris in 1770. The
next eight years were relatively peaceful. He wrote the "Confessions,"
"Dialogues" and "Reveries du promeneur Solitaire." An opera which he wrote,
"Les Muses galantes," had been performed at the Paris Opera years earlier
in 1747. In the closing years of his life, he wrote the fragments of another
opera, "Daphnis et Chloe." This opera was published in 1780, following
his death. A wealthy financier offered Rousseau the use of his cottage
at Ermenonville in 1778. Suffering from his psychological feelings of persecution,
Rousseau accepted. The alcoholism and inclination for stable boys of his
mistress, Therese, heightened his problems. Rousseau had a stroke and died
on July 2, 1778.
EMILE. The greatest work produced by Rousseau is Emile. This work is more a tract upon education under the guise of a story than it is a novel in the true sense of the word novel. The book describes the ideal education which prepares Emile and Sophie for their eventual marriage. The following represents an outline of the vital educational principles found in Emile:
2. BOOK TWO. Rousseau describes the education of the child when
the tutor has full responsibility. Some of the major points of this section
of the book are:
b. The School. Emile is educated away from city or town. Living in the country close to nature he should develop into the benevolent, good adult intended by nature. This school does not confine the youth to a classroom. No textbooks are utilized. The child learns by using his senses in direct experience.
c. Problem Centered. The tutor could employ no force in his teaching. When the child felt the need to know something, he would be moved to learn. Thus, Emile desired to know reading and writing in order to communicate with Sophie.
d. Character Education. The child learns morality by experiencing the consequences of his actions. Children are morally bad only after learning reprehensible behavior from adults. Punishment is never resorted to by the tutor.
e. Physical Education. Rousseau stresses the importance of physical
activities in order to build a strong body. Emile is given opportunity
to engage in swimming, running and athletic sports. His diet and living
conditions are rigidly controlled. He lives in Spartan simplicity. (Rousseau
was impressed and influenced by reading Plutarch's description of the life
of the Spartan king, Lycurgus).
4. BOOK FOUR. This section describes the social education and
the religious education of Emile. The education of Sophie is considered
and the book concludes with the marriage of Emile and Sophie. The following
represents some of the major points:
c. Education of Women. Having completed the explanation of Emile's ideal education, Rousseau turns his attention to the education of Sophie. Women are not educated as are men. The natural purpose of a woman is to please a man. She is expected to have and care for children, and to please, advise and console her husband whenever necessary. Her education does not extend beyond this purpose.