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Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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The Confessions (Penguin Classics) Paperback – August 30, 1953

by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Author), J. M. Cohen (Translator, Introduction)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 132 ratings
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Widely regarded as the first modern autobiography, The Confessions is an astonishing work of acute psychological insight. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) argued passionately against the inequality he believed to be intrinsic to civilized society. In his Confessions he relives the first fifty-three years of his radical life with vivid immediacy - from his earliest years, where we can see the source of his belief in the innocence of childhood, through the development of his philosophical and political ideas, his struggle against the French authorities and exile from France following the publication of Emile. Depicting a life of adventure, persecution, paranoia, and brilliant achievement, The Confessions is a landmark work by one of the greatest thinkers of the Enlightenment, which was a direct influence upon the work of Proust, Goethe and Tolstoy among others.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    608 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Classics
  4. Publication date
    August 30, 1953
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    7.76 x 5.16 x 1.09 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    014044033X
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0140440331
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

In his posthumously published Confessions Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) describes the first fifty-three years of his life. With a frankness at times almost disconcerting, but always refreshing, he set out to reveal the whole truth about himself to the world and succeeded in producing a masterpiece which has left its indelible imprint on the literature of successive generations, influencing among others Proust, Goethe and Tolstoy.

About the Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) is the author of numerous political and philosophical texts as well as entries on music for Diderot's Encyclopédie and the novels La nouvelle Héloïse and Émile.

J. M. Cohen, born in London in 1903 and a Cambridge graduate, was the author of many Penguin translations, including versions of Cervantes, Rabelais and Montaigne. For some years he assisted E. V. Rieu in editing the Penguin Classics. He collected the three books of Comic and Curious Verse and anthologies of Latin American and Cuban writing. He frequently visited Spain and made several visits to Mexico, Cuba and other Spanish American countries. With his son Mark he edited the Penguin Dictionary of Quotations and its companion Dictionary of Modern Quotations.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics; Reprint edition (August 30, 1953)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 608 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 014044033X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140440331
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.76 x 5.16 x 1.09 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 132 ratings

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau (/ruːˈsoʊ/; French: [ʒɑ̃ʒak ʁuso]; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Francophone Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the overall development of modern political and educational thought.

Rousseau's novel Emile, or On Education is a treatise on the education of the whole person for citizenship. His sentimental novel Julie, or the New Heloise was of importance to the development of pre-romanticism and romanticism in fiction. Rousseau's autobiographical writings — his Confessions, which initiated the modern autobiography, and his Reveries of a Solitary Walker — exemplified the late 18th-century movement known as the Age of Sensibility, and featured an increased focus on subjectivity and introspection that later characterized modern writing. His Discourse on Inequality and The Social Contract are cornerstones in modern political and social thought.

During the period of the French Revolution, Rousseau was the most popular of the philosophes among members of the Jacobin Club. Rousseau was interred as a national hero in the Panthéon in Paris, in 1794, 16 years after his death.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Maurice Quentin de La Tour [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
132 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

smallask
5.0 out of 5 stars Assigned for English Class
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2012
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I was given this book as part of the reading list of an english course I was taking in college. However, while reading the book, I came to appreciate it and continue reading it purely out of a personal need to finish it, and with less care of whether or not I was mandated to read it. The book is entertaining and the prose brilliant.

Rousseau seems to have written this book believing he is the first to make such an endeavor (that of a completely honest auto-biography). Though, I am very sure he is most definitely not the first to make such an attempt (e.g. Augustine's Confessions, etc), he is the first that I have enjoyed reading to such a degree. Sometimes Rousseau makes me cringe while reading of his hapless encounters with trouble and his naivete when faced with some deviant (for those days) behavior, and sometimes hard headed pursuit and/or belief in himself.

This book is great fun, and I would definitely recommend this book.

(To fans of Rousseau- after reading this book, I believe you might gain a greater/deeper understanding of his novel and characters in his book Emile).
7 people found this helpful
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Jnana
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice edition
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2022
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As expected with the Everyman addition, this hardcover is nicely put together — quality binding, good paper and readable font.
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krebsman
4.0 out of 5 stars Allegedly the truth, but I'm skeptical
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2022
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Oh, the 18th Century was strange! What interesting people it produced! I enjoyed this book enormously, even though it took me about 2 months of daily reading to finish its 606 pages. The big surprise (for me) was that Rousseau never finished it! Talk about a cliff-hanger ending! A few parts were boring (i.e., when he drops a lot of names of famous people of his time that I had never heard of), but in general, I found it fascinating. Of course, Rousseau lived more than a hundred years before Freud, but I do wonder if Freud ever read this book. The woman who inducted Rousseau into manhood was an older woman he called “Mama.” This was really yucky to me. He really loved her, although she later replaced him in her affections with another young man, just as he had replaced a different young man. They all got along famously. Yeah, I’d say he had an Oedipus complex. He was also a raving paranoic! And despite his upfront statements that he was going to tell the whole truth, even the bad things he was guilty of, I don’t think he was completely honest, especially when he states that so many things were happening at once that he really don’t remember it all that well. He had several convenient memory lapses. There are a lot of things that he very vague about. But my favorite part of the book was early on, after he runs away from home and an unhappy apprenticeship (His father had had to get out of the country to flee being thrown into debtor’s prison.) and attaches himself as a servant to the household of a rich, intellectual woman who was dying. I quote this passage:
“Indeed, I was more attentive to her than anyone else, for the poor woman’s suffering tore my heart, and the fortitude with which she bore it inspired me with the greatest respect and affection for her. Many were the genuine tears I shed in her room without her or anyone else noticing it.
Finally we lost her. I watched her die. She had lived like a woman of talents and intelligence; she died like a philosopher. I may say that she made the Catholic religion seem beautiful to me, by the serenity of heart with which she fulfilled its instructions, without either carelessness or affectation. She was of a serious nature. Towards the end of her illness she displayed a sort of gaiety too unbroken to be assumed, which was merely a counterpoise to her melancholy condition, the gift of her reason. She only kept her bed for the last two days, and continued to converse quietly with everyone to the last. Finally when she could no longer talk and was already in her death agony, she broke wind loudly. ‘Good,’ she said, turning over, ‘a woman who can fart is not dead.’ Those were the last words she spoke.”
Four stars from me.
2 people found this helpful
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Fran
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Edition
Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2013
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This edition is gorgeous, and the text is still as beautiful as it was when I first read it. I would reccomend this book to anyone. Truly anyone. Rousseau has such an uplifting voice, no matter what he is talking about. This is a book about what he is ashamed of, however, Rousseau presents it in such an optimistic way. This is a must read book.
4 people found this helpful
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pirateninj4
5.0 out of 5 stars Great inside look at one of histories most important intellectual figures
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2019
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Hard to read at times, the names of places and people run together a lot. But the book was a wonderful read and it was interesting reading something that detailed the life of an intellectual in France in that time.

Truly shows that while many things change, some things dont.
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ES
3.0 out of 5 stars Not the Penguin translation
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2020
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This Kindle version was advertised on the same page as the Penguin edition, but it's actually a 220 year old anonymous translation with archaic wording. It is serviceable, but not what was advertised.
2 people found this helpful
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Elperrocanservero
5.0 out of 5 stars Life
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2019
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Excellent autobiography, love the richness in detail of all his memories and his impartiality when describing events in his life (although you can’t ever be sure with impartiality) regardless, a great, life lesson like read.
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Stephen Poole
1.0 out of 5 stars Small print! Avoid the Everyman's Library edition
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2024
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These comments refer to the Everyman's Library Classics Series edition (w/ intro by P.N. Furbank): Buyer beware - the font is too small and (inexplicably) the margins are ample. (Note to Everyman's Library: Make your fonts larger!) Also, who translated this edition? The publisher buries this information: In small print at the end of the Intro, we're told that this is largely the work of an "anonymous translation" from 1904.
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Top reviews from other countries

alice
5.0 out of 5 stars Two thumbs up
Reviewed in Canada on June 22, 2020
Verified Purchase
The media could not be loaded.
 What I like:
- sewn binding: sturdy, will last a LONG time
- book mark: nice added detail
- font style and size: clear and easy to read
What I did not like:
- the jacket is a little worn,
- book mark is braided and seems like it will unravel over time with moderate use

Overall I am very happy with this purchase. The Everyman’s library edition is made with quality and care.
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alice
5.0 out of 5 stars Two thumbs up
Reviewed in Canada on June 22, 2020
What I like:
- sewn binding: sturdy, will last a LONG time
- book mark: nice added detail
- font style and size: clear and easy to read
What I did not like:
- the jacket is a little worn,
- book mark is braided and seems like it will unravel over time with moderate use

Overall I am very happy with this purchase. The Everyman’s library edition is made with quality and care.
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Dorothy
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 18, 2019
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Very good book
One person found this helpful
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Vlad Rybicka
4.0 out of 5 stars A same kind of people...
Reviewed in Canada on October 12, 2015
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....who were hunting down the author, after his death now celebrate his ideas and writings. How sad and in a certain way truthful account of our human behaviour???!!!
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Varna B
4.0 out of 5 stars A lively original
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2015
Verified Purchase
The first volume of this is a wonderful read, - the beginning of the genre really (apart from St Augustine). The second part is more of a plod and a tad tedious in places but worth pursuing as, after all, it is in that latter period that he achieves all that made him subsequently so famous and gave him such a significant place Western philosophy and educational theory. It is full of self criticism but also a great amount of self justification and the role of women in his life is revealed to be crucial and sometimes very odd. I felt a bit more sympathetic of his infamous treatment of his children after his, albeit justificatory, explanation.
3 people found this helpful
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joseph o'kane
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 4, 2016
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Great Kindle Edition of a Great Man xx
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