On Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Considered As One of the First Authors of the Revolution - Rilegato

Swenson, James

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0804735557 ISBN 13: 9780804735551

Casa editrice: Stanford Univ Pr, 2000

Riassunto

In order to grasp what it means to call Rousseau an "author" of the Revolution, as so many revolutionaries did, it is necessary to take full measure of the difficulties of literary interpretation to which Rousseau's work gives rise, particularly around such a charged term as "author."

On Jean-Jacques Rousseau shows that Rousseau's texts consistently generate a division in their own reading, a division both designated and masked by the fiction of authorship. These divisions can occur successively—as in the narrative reversals and discontinuities characteristic of Rousseau's fictional and autobiographical works—or simultaneously, in the form of incompatible attempts to apply the lessons of a single text to an urgent historical moment. Given the structure of these texts, their "influence" can only occur in an equally paradoxical form. Rousseau's contribution to revolutionary thinking lies in his conceptualization of the constitutive function of misunderstanding and narrative discontinuity, in history and political action as well as in literature.

Such misunderstandings and discontinuities are particularly well illustrated by the vicissitudes of the reading of Rousseau's texts during the revolutionary period, a moment when "readings" occurred as political programs. The Revolution enacted Rousseau precisely to the extent that revolutionaries could not agree on what action he called for. He is "one of the first authors of the Revolution" not because he was one of its causes, but because he provided the terms in which the logic of the revolutionary process becomes intelligible.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sugli autori

James Swenson is Assistant Professor of French at Rutgers University.

James Swenson is Assistant Professor of French at Rutgers University.

Dalla quarta di copertina

In order to grasp what it means to call Rousseau an “author” of the Revolution, as so many revolutionaries did, it is necessary to take full measure of the difficulties of literary interpretation to which Rousseau’s work gives rise, particularly around such a charged term as “author.”
On Jean-Jacques Rousseau shows that Rousseau’s texts consistently generate a division in their own reading, a division both designated and masked by the fiction of authorship. These divisions can occur successively—as in the narrative reversals and discontinuities characteristic of Rousseau’s fictional and autobiographical works—or simultaneously, in the form of incompatible attempts to apply the lessons of a single text to an urgent historical moment. Given the structure of these texts, their “influence” can only occur in an equally paradoxical form. Rousseau’s contribution to revolutionary thinking lies in his conceptualization of the constitutive function of misunderstanding and narrative discontinuity, in history and political action as well as in literature.
Such misunderstandings and discontinuities are particularly well illustrated by the vicissitudes of the reading of Rousseau’s texts during the revolutionary period, a moment when “readings” occurred as political programs. The Revolution enacted Rousseau precisely to the extent that revolutionaries could not agree on what action he called for. He is “one of the first authors of the Revolution” not because he was one of its causes, but because he provided the terms in which the logic of the revolutionary process becomes intelligible.

Dal risvolto di copertina interno

In order to grasp what it means to call Rousseau an author of the Revolution, as so many revolutionaries did, it is necessary to take full measure of the difficulties of literary interpretation to which Rousseau s work gives rise, particularly around such a charged term as author.
On Jean-Jacques Rousseau shows that Rousseau s texts consistently generate a division in their own reading, a division both designated and masked by the fiction of authorship. These divisions can occur successively as in the narrative reversals and discontinuities characteristic of Rousseau s fictional and autobiographical works or simultaneously, in the form of incompatible attempts to apply the lessons of a single text to an urgent historical moment. Given the structure of these texts, their influence can only occur in an equally paradoxical form. Rousseau s contribution to revolutionary thinking lies in his conceptualization of the constitutive function of misunderstanding and narrative discontinuity, in history and political action as well as in literature.
Such misunderstandings and discontinuities are particularly well illustrated by the vicissitudes of the reading of Rousseau s texts during the revolutionary period, a moment when readings occurred as political programs. The Revolution enacted Rousseau precisely to the extent that revolutionaries could not agree on what action he called for. He is one of the first authors of the Revolution not because he was one of its causes, but because he provided the terms in which the logic of the revolutionary process becomes intelligible.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Stanford Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2000
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0804735557
• ISBN 13: 9780804735551
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 320
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile