Rousseau Jean - Autobiographical, Scientific, Religious, Moral, and Literary Writings

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF ROUSSEAU

Vol. 12

TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER KELLY

ROGER D. MASTERS AND CHRISTOPHER KELLY SERIES EDITORS

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
PUBLISHED BY UNIVERSITY PRESS OF NEW ENGLAND
HANOVER AND LONDON

Dartmouth College Press

Published by University Press of New England,

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2006 by the Trustees of Dartmouth College

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 17121778.

[Selections. English. 2007]

Autobiographical, scientific, religious, moral, and literary writings /

Jean-Jacques Rousseau translated and edited by Christopher Kelly.

p. cm.(The collected writings of Rousseau; vol. 12)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 9781584655992 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1584655992 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN-13: 9781611682823 (e-book)

1. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 17121778. I. Kelly, Christopher, 1950 II. Title.

PQ2034.K45 2007

848'.509dc22 2006025076

To accommodate the special requirements of flowing-text ebooks, this electronic edition differs slightly from this volumes print version.

In both versions, each selection from Rousseaus writings is keyed to the corresponding page numbers in the Pliade edition of Oeuvres compltes. In this ebook, this information appears directly below the selection heading. In the print book, it appears in the texts running heads.

In this ebook edition, two endnote number sequences appear. First, endnotes provided by the editors are indicated in both the print and ebook editions with superscript arabic numbers. They look like this.1 Second, in this ebook, Rousseaus own footnotes to the original text are indicated by superscript arabic numbers prefaced by the letter R. They look like this.R1 In the print edition, Rousseaus notes are styled as footnotes keyed to the text with symbol characters.

Although Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a significant figure in the Western tradition, there is no standard edition of his major writings available in English. Moreover, unlike those of other thinkers of comparable stature, many of Rousseaus important works have never been translated or have become unavailable. The present edition of the Collected Writings of Rousseau is intended to meet this need.

Our goal is to produce a series that can provide a standard reference for scholarship that is accessible to all those wishing to read broadly in the corpus of Rousseaus work. To this end, the translations seek to combine care and faithfulness to the original French text with readability in English. Although, as every translator knows, there are often passages where it is impossible to meet this criterion, readers of a thinker and writer of Rousseaus stature deserve texts that have not been deformed by the interpretive bias of the translators or editors.

Wherever possible, existing translations of high quality have been used, although in some cases the editors have felt that minor revisions were necessary to maintain the accuracy and consistency of the English versions. Where there was no English translation (or none of sufficient quality), a new translation has been prepared.

Each text is supplemented by editorial notes that clarify Rousseaus references and citations or passages otherwise not intelligible. Although these notes do not provide as much detail as is found in the critical apparatus of the Pliade edition of the Oeuvres compltes, the English-speaking reader should nevertheless have in hand the basis for a more careful and comprehensive understanding of Rousseau than has hitherto been possible.

The works contained in this penultimate volume of the Collected Writings of Rousseau cover a wide range of subjects and were written over a very long period of time. The final volume will contain Emile and related writings. At this point in the series it is useful to state what parts of the Pliade edition of the Oeuvres compltes have not been included in this series. The only omissions from Volume I of the Pliade are Rousseaus account books and assorted documents (pp. 11921226). The only omissions from Volume II are the majority of the poems and romances (pp. 11151173) and the Penses dun sprite droit et sentimens dun coeur vertueux (pp. 12991314), which are of very dubious authenticity. The only omissions from Volume III are the dispatches from Venice from the time Rousseau was secretary to the French ambassador from 1743 to 1744 (pp. 10451234). Aside from Emile and related writings (which will conclude this series) the only omission from Volume IV is the reproduction of Rousseaus Characters of Botany (pp. 11941195). The omissions from Volume V are Rousseaus writings on coding and decoding (pp. 553583), portions of the Dictionary of Music (pp. 6051191) and his translations of Seneca, Tacitus, Tasso, and Plato (pp. 12141298). This series has included a number of works and letters not found in the Pliade edition.

We would like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities for a research grant that allowed Christopher Kelly to complete this volume and the Florence Gould Foundation for a grant that allowed its publication. One piece in this volume, previously appeared in Interpretation 23, no. 3 (Spring 1996). We thank Hilail Gildin for permission to reprint the translation. Sam Silverman graciously consulted on technical aspects of Rousseaus scientific writings. Natalie Wills Culp was very helpful in the preparation of the manuscript.

1712

June 28: Rousseau is born in Geneva.

1729

September: Occurrence of the miracle testified to by Rousseau in the Memorandum to Monsignor Boudet.

1735

Possible date of On God.

Probable date of the fragment On Eloquence.

1736

Probable date of the composition of the Course on Geography.

1738

September 28: Date of the Response to the Anonymous Memorandum.

Earliest likely date of the prayers.

1739

Rousseau publishes The Orchard of Madame the Baronne de Warens.

1740

April: Rousseau becomes the tutor to the children of M. de Mably in Lyon.

Probable date of the Epistle to M. Bordes.

174142

Probable date of Enigma.

1742

April 19: Date of Memorandum to Monsignor Boudet.

July 10: Completion of the Letter to M. Parisot.

1745

Approximate date of Idea of Method in the Composition of a Book.

Likely date of the Essay on the Important Events of Which Women Have Been the Secret Cause.