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La vie et les ouvrages de Jean-Jacques Rousseau by Bernardin De Saint-Pierre, Jacques-Henri

2012; American Association of Teachers of French; Volume: 85; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/tfr.2012.0290

2329-7131

Mary Ellen Birkett,

Rousseau and Enlightenment Thought

representations of “le paysage” (89) as a tangible character in the eighteenth-century novel. Nathalie Ferrand considers the idea of “distance” (86) in illustrations of novels by Rétif and Madame de Genlis and a painting by Jean-François de Troy—not only the distances between characters and settings that create the spaces in the image, but also the critical distances between viewer and image; and Christophe Martin considers space in the eighteenth-century novel as material for experimentation of the conscience. Jean-François Perrin proposes a reading of Rousseau’s Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques as if it were a novel, revealing Rousseau’s experience of the modern city as a labyrinth where “les choses échappent aux violences de l’interprétation dans une pure présence capable de combler le moi” (15). The volume ’s third section, less narrowly based on the works of Lafon, takes up his insight that reading two or more texts alongside one another may open up the interpretation of each, as in Élisabeth Lavezzi’s reading of an episode of La fin des amours du chevalier de Faublas in light of Balzac’s Adieu. Philip Stewart demonstrates how Prévost’s Cleveland resonates with autobiographical texts by Prévost, but also with Julie. Mathieu Brunet superimposes four novels by Lamartine and reads them in light of Rousseau’s Confessions, and Jean-Christophe Abramovici considers the “sourire libertin” (181) of Marivaux. The list of contributors to this volume in itself is impressive, and the essays go far to further establish the importance and legacy of Lafon as a thinker who defined the field of eighteenth-century studies. The volume will be of interest to all those who study the ways in which literature both relates to the world and creates its own world through its objects and spaces. Boston University (MA) Gillian Pierce BERNARDIN DE SAINT-PIERRE, JACQUES-HENRI. La vie et les ouvrages de Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Éd. Raymond Trousson. Paris: Champion, 2009. ISBN 978-2-7453-19623 . Pp. 208. 44 a. As no one knew better than Rousseau, works of self-disclosure are tissues of partial revelation, omission, and evasion. In the multifaceted autobiography composed by the Confessions, Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques, and numerous letters, Rousseau suggests that the way to come to know his true self is not by isolating threads from the autobiographical fabric, but on the contrary, entwining them into ever denser textures. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s La vie et les ouvrages de Jean-Jacques Rousseau follows Rousseau’s own multifaceted approach by presenting a looselywoven collage of personal reminiscences, notes for a comparison between Voltaire and Rousseau, and musings on Rousseau’s character, works, and philosophy. Raymond Trousson’s new edition of Bernardin’s text draws deeply on the critical editions prepared by Aimé Martin in the 1840s and by Maurice Souriau in the early 1900s. Trousson also provides useful contextual material: copious page notes fill in Bernardin’s often elliptical statements and cross-reference Rousseau’s own accounts of episodes relayed by Bernardin. As Trousson notes in his introduction , Bernardin had no knowledge of the Confessions other than what Rousseau chose to tell him. Given this choreography of disclosure and silence, Rousseau often appears in a positive light in Bernardin’s retelling. For instance, Bernardin’s version of the day the young Rousseau spent cherry picking with Mesdemoiselles Galley and de Graffenried reads about the same here as in Rousseau’s version in the Confessions; Bernardin takes Rousseau at his word, and in so doing shows a 940 FRENCH REVIEW 85.5 love of nature worthy of Rousseau himself. However, Bernardin’s disjointed bits of commentary on Rousseau’s judgment, philosophy, works as Bernardin knew them, and future projects as Rousseau outlined them show Bernardin taking a more independent stance toward his mentor. As Bernardin makes minute revisions of these jottings, he comes to distinguish his own ideas from those of Rousseau, particularly where education and religion are concerned. Whereas Bernardin’s reshuffled reflections on Rousseau’s ouvrages are difficult to read, the pages where Bernardin narrates the many hours he spent in Rousseau’s company read easily. In these anecdotes, we see...