Confessions. Walks of a Lonely Dreamer

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