English Literature

Scholars and critics have long considered Rousseaus Confessions one of the fundamental intellectual and literary inspirations of the movement known as Romanticism.  This movement, which became most manifest in the intellectual world of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, was in many ways an individual critique and reaction against the classical dogmas of Medieval times and the strict constraints of the Enlightenments empiricism and strenuous focus on the use of reason.
Romanticism, generally speaking, came to represent an intellectual tradition in which subjective considerations replaced empirical objectivity and in which the feelings and aspirations of the individual competed with older traditions that stressed the primacy of certain types of authority and society.  Rousseaus contribution, in Confessions, was the publication of what was at that time a new type of literary genre known as the autobiography in which the dominant themes were reflective narratives on Rousseaus life from childhood until his early fifties.  This was a deeply personal type of narrative at the time, revealing personal secrets and individual aspirations, and it was in this way that the text came to inspire an increasing interest in and legitimacy of subjective and individualistic perspectives.  In order to illustrate how this text performed these functions, this paper will discuss how Rousseau treated childhood and adolescence as being an important formative part of adulthood in ways that empiricism could not and how an emphasis on the individual affected views of political organization particularly with respect to evolving views on democracy.

As an initial matter, Rousseau conceived as the individual personality as being the product of life experiences and personal psychological desires rather than conforming to a larger social model.  A close reading of the text, for example, seems to confirm that Rousseau actually anticipated some of the psychological theories and personality theories later attributed to Sigmund Freud.  He accomplished this by recounting a number of youthful experiences through which he believed that he was experience the evolving sexuality of adolescence.  Specifically, following a beating received for having been naughty, he recounts I had discovered in the shame and pain of the punishment an admixture of sensuality which had left me rather eager than otherwise for a repetition by the same hand.  The admission of a feeling of sensuality flowing from the beating, what he would also characterize as some degree of precocious sexuality was the type of deeply subjective and individualistic observation which permeates the text.  He is not writing about how he should feel, or how social conventions might expect him to respond, but he is instead inserting honest admissions that may very well contravene existing social standards and expectations.  He therefore frames his narrative in terms of individual experiences, subjective interpretations, and accords legitimacy to this type of intellectual orientation because, after all, he is writing about himself.  Who, to be sure, would know Rousseau better than Rousseau

In addition to contributing to the Romantic emphasis at an individual level, Rousseau also contributed in terms of projecting individuality to larger social and political considerations.  Democracy was hardly a favored form of political organization at the time of this writing, authoritarian models being the preferred form of political organization, and Rousseaus emphasis on the sanctity of the individual would significantly affect thinking about political systems Democracy, to be sure, is premised on the authority of the individual through voting and representation rather than elites or royal authorities.  It has been noted in this respect, for instance, It was not until the Reformations emphasis on individual authenticity and personal insight into the divine had been gradually secularized that conditions became congenial to the rise of modern Romanticism.  Rousseaus celebration of individualism contributed to this movement.

In conclusion, it can clearly be seen that Confessions functioned not only as a new type of autobiographical literary genre but also as an inspiration for the impending Romantic Movement.  This was because of the focus on the individual and how the needs and aspirations of the individual should come to influence and administer social and political forms of organization.