Confessions. Walks of a Lonely Dreamer

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) — an outstanding thinker and writer of the Enlightenment era. In 'Confessions', remarkable for its candor (at least for the 18th century), Rousseau describes in detail fifty-three years of his life. This is an attempt to uncover the true motives of human actions and — almost always — to find justifications for them. Rousseau does not hide the fact that he stole, gave his own children to an orphanage, lived off wealthy women, and shares his most intimate feelings. He writes about how he was captivated by people and how he broke away from them, describing all his grievances and bitter misconceptions. The main characters in his narrative are Diderot, Voltaire, Baron von Grimm, and many women who were kind to him. This work was published to the general public only four years after the author's death, in 1782. At the same time, 'Walks of a Lonely Dreamer' (1776–1778) was released, which continues the autobiographical theme in the form of philosophical essays and summarizes the entire life and work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. These works provide an impression of Rousseau's personality — quite contradictory and yet having a tremendous influence on the Enlightenment era.