355 Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

Arts, History, Books

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2021

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brilliant and contentious, the Swiss-born political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (`1712-1768) is one of the key figures of the Enlightenment, with a fame and influence that continues to this day. But although we know him best for his Social Contract, which influenced both the American Constitution writers and the French revolutionaries, in his own time he was as well known for his novels Julie; or, The New Héloïse, and Emile, or On Education, both of which were runaway bestsellers. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at the eventful life, many enemies, and major works of this wide-ranging thinker. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. (We appreciate it!) Find out more at historyofliterature.com, jackewilson.com, or by following Jacke and Mike on Twitter at @thejackewilson and @literatureSC. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to The History of Literature, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding literature, history, and storytelling like Storybound, Micheaux Mission, and The History of Standup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey folks, it's Jack. Do you ever find yourself wondering about the little mysteries in life?
0:06.0	Like how refrigeration happened? Or just how many times did the CIA try to assassinate
0:12.0	Fidel Castro anyway? If you find yourself going down rabbit holes like these, then I recommend
0:18.1	a trip to the podcast, History of Everything. Hosted by History lover Steven Bell and
0:24.4	scientist Gabby Bell, the show dives into all the cool but weird little details that make
0:30.3	our world what it is today. You can count on them to cover literally the history of everything,
0:36.2	from potatoes to the crusades. So don't miss out. Listen to History of Everything wherever
0:42.4	you get your podcasts and tell them I sent you. Hello. The 18th century German philosopher,
0:49.6	a manual Kant was a man of routines. His daily walks were so regular that the residents in his
0:55.7	town used to set their clocks by them. One day he didn't pass by the first time in memory that he
1:03.2	had ever missed. Had he gotten ill or died? No. He had been reading a novel and he lost track of time.
1:13.1	That novel was Emil. Its author was Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Who was this powerful thinker?
1:20.5	And what was this powerful novel? The story of Rousseau today on the History of Literature.
1:42.5	Okay. Here we go. Welcome to the podcast. I'm Jack Wilson. I'm glad you're here.
1:47.1	Etc. We've got to move quickly today folks because our subject is monumental. A lot of works
1:54.3	crammed into this life and a lot of living too. A lot of ideas. We will do our best.
2:02.0	Excuse me. Off to a bad start. If I say Jean-Jacques Rousseau to you, you've all heard of him no doubt
2:09.6	what comes to mind. Probably political theory, especially if you're an American, we studied him
2:16.3	in ninth grade in my civics class, along with Locke and Hobbes in Montesquieu, the thinkers and theorists
2:24.4	who were on the mind of those drafting a constitution and starting up a nation.
2:29.7	What else comes to your mind? How about the quotation? Man is born free, but everywhere is in chains.
2:37.8	That comes from his work, the social contract, which might also be a phrase knocking around
	...

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