| Confessions (jean-jacques Rousseau) |
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The ''Confessions'' is divided into two parts, each consisting of six books. Rousseau alludes to a planned third part, but this was never completed. Though the book is somewhat flawed as an autobiography – particularly, Rousseau's dates are frequently off, and some events are out of order – Rousseau provides an account of the experiences that shaped his influential ''. Rousseau's work is notable as one of the first major autobiographies. Prior to his writing the ''Confessions'', the two great autobiographies were Augustine's own ''Confessions'' and Saint Teresa 's ''Life of Herself''. Both of these works, however, focused on the Religious Experience s of their authors. The ''Confessions'' was one of the first autobiographies in which an individual wrote of his own life mainly in terms of his worldly experiences and personal feelings. Rousseau recognized the unique nature of his work; it opens with the famous words: I have resolved on an enterprise which has no precedent, and which, once complete, will have no imitator. My purpose is to display to my kind a portrait in every way true to nature, and the man I shall portray will be myself. Rousseau's work found more imitators than he predicted; the style of the ''Confessions'' influenced many later writers, among them Goethe , Tolstoy , and Trollope . The ''Confessions'' is also noted for its detailed account of Rousseau's more humiliating and shameful moments. For instance, Rousseau recounts an incident when, while a servant, he covered up his theft of a ribbon by framing a young girl who was working in the house for the crime. |
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