The Reveries of the Solitary Walker (Hackett Classics) (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1782; vuoden 1992 painos)

> Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire. Texte présenté et commenté par Marie-Madeleine Castex. Illustrations de Louis Sala. Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1978. Un vol. 16 x 22 de 387 p.
Se reporter au compte rendu de Jacques VOISINE
In: Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 80e Année, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1980), pp. 454-456… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1laYjNmPPRMKuehhZ5IKLUFthuYdtBc0u/view?usp=shari...

> Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire, suivies des Lettres à Malesherbes et d’un choix de textes sur la rêverie. Texte établi, avec préface, notes, chronologie et choix de variantes par Robert Morrissey. Fasano, Schena Editore, Paris, Presses de T Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 2003. Un vol. 14 x 21 de 300 p.
Se reporter au compte rendu de Sakurako INOUÉ
In: Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 105e Année, No. 2, LITTÉRATURE ET DÉMOCRATIE (AVRIL-JUIN 2005), p. 445… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ogXXyJ7Tvl9rUGF6AP5_B69ZkGCALQy0/view?usp=shari...

> Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Les Rêveries du Promeneur Solitaire. Fac-similé du manuscrit original (Bibliothèque de Neuchâtel). Avec une introduction de Marc Eigeldinger et une notice de Frédéric-S. Eigeldinger. Éditions Slatkine, Genève, 1978. Un vol. relié 15 x 22,5, 47 p. d’introduction, 215 p. de reproduction des manuscrits.
Se reporter au compte rendu de Jean-Louis LECERCLE
In: Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 80e Année, No. 5 (Sep. - Oct., 1980), pp. 810-811… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QylT44YFlOZ8pTJdFvAWmQ3avv1-EHK3/view?usp=shari...

> Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire. Edited by Renée Geen. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970. Pp. 144. $3.50, paperback.
Se reporter au compte rendu de Anne Srabian de FABRY
In: The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Feb., 1971), pp. 125-126… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nN_G-0g-wXxfNDO1NtVvLdIOyIdIfD8g/view?usp=shari...

Lorsqu'il commence à écrire les Rêveries à l'automne 1776, Rousseau est un vieil homme proche de la mort, presque pauvre, célèbre dans toute l'Europe et pourtant assuré que l'espèce humaine le rejette. II continue cependant d'écrire et les Rêveries sont à ses yeux la suite des Confessions. Mais il ne s'agit plus désormais de raconter sa vie ni de s'expliquer aux autres pour dévoiler sa vraie nature. Les souvenirs épars qui remontent maintenant à sa mémoire, c'est pour lui-même qu'il les consigne dans une prose souvent admirablement poétique.

Hyperbole*, thy name is Rousseau. In the last work by Jean-Jacques Rousseau he created a memoir like none of his other works. Autobiographical in style, it differs from the Confessions, the Dialogues, and several letters. It has no goal nor any chronological order; indeed, the ten "walks" into which it is divided provide a record of his inner feelings, a sort of barometer of his "soul".

The theme of the walks, if one exists, seems to center on Rousseau's alleged solitude - an isolation from society that is not deserved by such a great man. He spends his days contemplating himself as evidenced by this comment near the end of the First Walk: "But I, detached from them and from everything, what am I?".
His investigation of himself, as the walks continue, appears to be sentimental - one that focuses on feeling rather than ideas (perhaps his taste for ideas had declined since the days of his early essays and great Social Contract). He ponders the nature of happiness in the Fifth Walk, however does not identify his own personal happiness with contemplation (as Aristotle or other classical thinkers might). In fact, he considers thinking a chore for him in the Seventh Walk; it is a task he used to perform fro the sake of others so that he could explain the world to them and show them how to live in it correctly (perhaps they could not hear him or were just not listening).

Rousseau's high appreciation of himself is evident from the opening sentence of the First Walk when he sets himself apart from humankind with these words: "I am now alone on earth, no longer having any brother, neighbor, friend, or society other than myself." He goes on to portray himself as the "most sociable and the most loving of humans". Overall the investigation of self in which he is engaged is so clearly and consistently directed at Rousseau's own enlightenment that the problem of why he is in this unusual condition does not arise. The final and tenth walk occurs on on Palm Sunday in 1778. He ends his reveries with a short chapter bemoaning the short period of happiness he had with a woman decades before; unsure of himself or his feelings he commits to reforming so as to be able to love. It seems that will be a losing battle.

* language that describes something as better or worse than it really is. ( )

I actually enjoyed Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Reveries of the Solitary Walker" much more than I expected to. I found Rousseau's 10 essays interesting and occasionally unintentionally amusing in a sad sort of way.

Rousseau would have been insane in this Internet age where every comment about a person's work, behavior or looks can be seen, dissected and analyzed. Rousseau, writing in the late 1700's in France was utterly paranoid and convinced that there were haters out there at every turn.

Still, I found his essays thoughtful and very easily translatable to today's world. His anecdotes were interesting enough that I'll likely put his more formidable "Confessions" on my reading list. ( )

Philosopher est-ce se plaindre? Se justifier? Non, décidément pas. ( )