In this final volume of his biographical trilogy, Maurice Cranston traces the last tempestuous years of Rousseau's life. Unerringly faithful to the evidence, Cranston's narrative allows Rousseau and his contemporaries to speak with renewed vigor and undistorted voice. From his brilliant authorship of the "Confessions," the "Dialogues," and the "Reveries" to his ill-fated sojourn in Britain, from his infamous public quarrel with David Hume to his clandestine return to France, from his unsettled wanderings to his eventual death in 1778 - these and other critical events in Rousseau's fading career are detailed in this balanced portrait. In 1762, with the condemnation of "Emile" and "The Social Contract," harried by both church and state, Jean-Jacques Rousseau fled Paris, seeking refuge in Switzerland, Prussia, and England. Deemed a social outcast and beset with feelings of persecution and abuse, not wholly unwarranted, the philosopher turned in despair to the production of autobiographical works intended to reveal his essential innocence and integrity. Through this bitter introspection, Rousseau transformed his misery and solitude into some of the most enduring literature of his time.
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A monumental achievement, Maurice Cranston's trilogy provides the definitive account of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's turbulent life. Now available in paperback, this final volume completes a masterful biography of one of the most important philosophers of all time. "The Solitary Self "traces the last tempestuous years of Rousseau's life. ""The Solitary Self" is a fitting coda to a magisterial work. Cranston . . . is a compelling stylist who narrates Rousseau's tribulations with a mixture of compassion and dry humor."--Thomas Pavel, "Wall Street Journal" "Cranston not only recreates for his readers a rounded view of Rousseau himself, he sets it firmly in the social and political context of Europe's "ancien regime." . . . An engrossing work of history."--John Gray, "New Statesman" "Cranston's painstaking archival research and lucid style yield the most detailed and thoroughly documented biography of Rousseau written in English. His epilogue masterfully sums up Rousseau's importance as political philosopher and initiator of romantic sensibilities."--"Choice" "Anyone curious about the paradoxes of a most paradoxical man will not go wrong by starting with this invaluable biography."--James Miller, "Washington Post Book World" "As absorbing as a picaresque novel."--Naomi Bliven, "New Yorker" "A monument of scholarship. . . . This amazing biography, like Boswell's account of Johnson, recreates the daily life of Rousseau: what he did, who he saw, what he said, what he wrote. . . . We may be quite confident that we hold in our hands the authoritative account of this life. The definitive Rousseau."--Isaac Kramnick, "New Republic" Maurice Cranston (1920-1993), a distinguished scholar and recipient of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his biography of John Locke, was professor of political science at the London School of Economics. His numerous books include "The Romantic Movement" and "Philosophers and Pamphleteers," and translations of Rousseau's "The Social Contract" and "Discourse on the Origins of Inequality."
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