Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I would never have read The Confessions had it not been for the admiration W.G. Sebald expresses for the man and his works in his A Place in the Country. The writing here is lucid, often floridly emotional, but it’s the density of Rousseau’s memory that astonishes. His focus on a single incident or individual is uncanny; his retrospective interpretations can go on for pages. And this was a man with substantial social deficits. In Book Three, it becomes clear that the author suffered from something like autism, for he had limited social capacities, and admits that he was little more than a fool in social settings. It was only in retrospect that he could review his knowledge and come to conclusions—and write.

The piety becomes annoying, all the discussion of great fathers of the Church who, let’s face it, were just as pederastic then as they are today. Human nature hasn’t changed. Rousseau even has a story about a priest picking him up for sex one night during a bout of homelessness in his late teens. The view one gets of society at this time, too, is a contrast of extremes. Pre-industrial revolution, there’s the unspoiled landscape which at this remove seems almost unimaginable. Contrast that though with the primitive medicine—not much more than herbs for illnesses, the brevity of life, the impenetrable Ignorance of the people, the extractive business practices, zero public education. It would not be a stretch to read The Confessions purely as an historical dystopia.

Despite his aforementioned social incapacities, Rousseau was paradoxically highly social, or would “high functioning� be the more accurate term? Since he knows Italian he undertakes the position of secretary to the French ambassador in Venice; this during the War of the Austrian Succession as Prince Lobkowitz is marching on Naples. His devotion to his duty is impeccable, while the ambassador himself concerns himself primarily with whoring. The Venice chapter is a classic story of working under incompetent leadership all too familiar to those who have experience working in either military or corporate settings. One’s heart goes out to Rousseau when he recounts how he was so basely insulted by his superior.

I must finish...