Background

Son of a Genevan watchmaker and a mother who died when he was but a few days old, Rousseau spent much of his life solitary and embittered. This was partly because his writings challenged the social and cultural values of his day and partly because of bitter quarrels with friends and admirers. He maintained a long term but intermittent relationship with Mme de Warens who became a patron, a sort of mother substitute, and and for a short time, mistress. He tried his hand at many occupations - civil servant, music teacher, interpreter, tutor. Success came when he won an essay competition run by the Dijon Academy with his "Discourse on the Arts and Sciences" written after a sudden illumination revealing "all the contradictions of the social system" and a glimpse of "another universe".

PERSONAL TORMENT

Rousseau's vision of the happy man as one who abandons himself effortlessly to the innate power of his goodness is a far cry from the reality of his own troubled existence. His last works are introspective and reveal a restless, tormented soul. He is racked by guilt for actions in his early life, like the blaming of a theft for which he was responsible on a servant girl and the placing of his five illegitimate children in institutions. The ideal upbringing described in "Emile" bears no resemblance to his own childhood nor to that of his children. Even when he spent time in the rural setting that he saw as idyllic, he remained a tormented and bitter individual.