'No one can write a man's life except himself.' In his Confessions Jean-Jacques
Rousseau tells the story of his life, from the formative experience of his humbl
e childhood in Geneva, through the achievement of international fame as novelist
and philosopher in Paris, to his wanderings as an exile, persecuted by governme
nts and alienated from the world of modern civilization. In trying to explain wh
o he was and how he came to be the object of others' admiration and abuse, Rouss
eau analyses with unique insight the relationship between an elusive but essenti
al inner self and the variety of social identities he was led to adopt. The book
vividly illustrates the mixture of moods and motives that underlie the writing
of autobiography: defiance and vulnerability, self-exploration and denial, passi
on, puzzlement, and detachment.
