The Confessions

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1782

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Books I-III

Part 1, Books IV-VI

Part 2, Books VII-IX

Part 2, Books X-XII

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Part 2, Books X-XIIChapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2

Part 2, Book X Summary

In 1758, Rousseau settles in a small, dilapidated apartment in Montmorency. He is very sick, suffering from kidney pain and urine retention. After attaching herself to one of Rousseau’s estranged friends, Madame d’Épinay softens when learning that he left the Hermitage and sends a letter offering peace. Rousseau refuses to respond. He believes his former friends conspired against him and are spreading false rumors about him across Paris. His other friends also treat him coolly, which he believes to be evidence of the influence of Diderot and others. Madame d’Houderot writes to tell him that she is devastated to report that their relationship is the fodder of gossip that nearly destroyed her husband.

Rousseau eventually accepts an invitation to dine with Madame d’Épinay and other friends, whom he is eager to see again. Everyone at the dinner is friendly, and he is glad to be back in their good graces. He publishes a letter defending himself against the rumors about him. When it is well received, he feels that his reputation has regained traction. During this time, he writes and publishes many works, including Julie, Émile, and The Social Contract. He wants to write his memoirs, so he prepares to retire to focus on this work.

However, his plan is derailed when he makes new acquaintances in high society. He stays with them while a small house at Mont-Louis is prepared for him. When the house is finished, he keeps his apartment and is also offered a place at a hotel. He enjoys a short-lived prosperity while engaged with high society. Rousseau presents numerous letters in this book to justify his actions and defend himself, including a letter to Voltaire, with whom he was squabbling.

Part 2, Book XI Summary

Although Julie is not yet published, it is already a hit, especially with women. Rousseau grows increasingly dissatisfied with many of his new acquaintances. The women in his social circle love to write, and they ask Rousseau to read their works. He is irritated by this task. One female friend expresses a desire to adopt one of the children that he left with the orphanage. When she tries to locate the child, she discovers that the home kept few records. Rousseau is relieved that the child cannot be located.

He continues to dream of retirement while he waits for the publication of Émile to be finalized. The Social Contract is published first, and Rousseau receives a considerable pension, which he hands to Thérèse to manage. His illness becomes worse, and Rousseau struggles with paranoia and depression. He receives several anonymous letters that criticize Parliament. Believing these to be traps set for him by his enemies, he responds with anger. When the publication of Émile stops suddenly for no apparent reason, Rousseau worries that his criticism of the church angered important people. Publication soon continues, however, but he continues to worry about what will occur when people have the opportunity to read it. Attempts to stifle the circulation of The Social Contract leave Rousseau suspicious.

Émile is not so favorably received as his other works, and the response is quiet. Although his friends privately praise the text, none of them offers public support. Rousseau has multiple reasons to worry that Émile might anger high officials: The work criticizes religion, feudalism, and those who treat the poor badly. He soon hears rumors that the book upset Parliament, as well as the public. He learns that Parliament intends to arrest him, and the prince sends a letter declaring that Rousseau’s arrest is imminent and that he needs to leave the country if he wants to escape. After considering his options, Rousseau determines that he will abscond to Switzerland.

Part 2, Book XII Summary

When Rousseau arrives in Switzerland, he is plunged into a deep depression. Any hopes of returning to Geneva are soon dashed when he learns that his book is being burned and that he will be arrested if he decides to return. French publications paint Rousseau as a traitor and madman. His acquaintances in Switzerland ask him to stay with them and accept a small house which they furnished, but another offer outside Neufchâtel pulls him away. After establishing himself, he sends a letter to Thérèse, asking her to join him. The couple’s time apart renewed their affection for one another.

Rousseau makes powerful friends in Neufchâtel and secures his position there. The king of Prussia offers Rousseau a pension in the form of a home to live in. Now unable to publish anything, Rousseau is determined to lead a quiet life and take up hobbies, such as lacemaking. Although he has the king’s approval, there are those in the country who are influenced by the scathing reviews of Rousseau and his work. His book is banned, and he is informed that he will not be allowed to live within the city.

Rousseau begins working on Confessions and finishing the Dictionary of Music that he has worked on for 10 years. While preparing his memoirs, he discovers that someone took a great portion of his letters. Rousseau makes many new acquaintances, and his home is as busy as ever, with visitors coming and going. He receives word that two of his friends died and one left Neufchâtel. Rousseau enters an agreement to publish his Dictionary of Music, but the agreement falls through when some of his works go into publication. Lettres de la Montagne has a similar effect to Émile: The book is burned, and Rousseau is compelled to appear before the Consistory so as not to be excommunicated. At the last minute, Rousseau panics and does not attend, so he is forced to leave his home after an angry mob throws stones at his house. He takes up residence on a small island in the Lake of Bienne. He enjoys his time on the island until he receives word that he must leave, forcing him to escape once more, this time to Corsica. He is stopped by Biennese people who offer their homes to him.

Part 2, Books X-XII Analysis

Rousseau’s departure to Switzerland represents the culmination of the theme Abandonment and Running Away. Rousseau is plunged into a deep despair at being ostracized and separated from the complex societal life he enjoyed in Paris and Montmorency. When he takes a home on an island, he feels that he has finally achieved his lifelong goal. From his early years, Rousseau dreamed of a life of respite and retirement. He wanted to spend his days connecting with nature, far from the troubles of high society. However, just as occurred at the cottage with Madame de Warens and the Hermitage, Rousseau is compelled to leave these refuges. His troubles follow him. What began as a compulsion to escape when things became difficult transforms into a requirement. Rousseau has no choice but to leave France and, later, the island. Faced with the fact that he will never find the solitary freedom he longed for throughout his life, he is forever doomed to be separated from nature. This contributes to Rousseau’s idea that the separation of humanity and nature is its great moral downfall and a result of the growth of civilization.

These final chapters allow the reader to consider Rousseau’s life in full and the connecting threads between his early years and his troubles as an adult. In truth, Rousseau’s own connections to high society are his greatest moral downfall. As he manages to find the life he always claimed to want, he increases his friendships and acquaintances, forming attachments with anyone who intrigues him. He dabbles in petty jealousy and squabbles that lead to larger problems. His long list of friendships in each chapter becomes a revolving door of characters, individuals who distract him from his resolve to live quietly and whom he blames for separating him from his moral compass. The instability of his relationships causes him to be paranoid and to see everyone as a potential enemy, armed with the ability to ruin him. In reality, Rousseau ruins his own situation. He pens scathing remarks about the political system to which he is indebted and by which he is controlled.

Rousseau completes his memoirs by challenging anyone who believes they may find falsehood in his work to die. Again, Rousseau creates his own bed of problems. After its publication, his work is repeatedly challenged and revealed to be full of inconsistencies and inaccuracies. The author, who time and again proves his own unreliability in the text, asserts that his writing is the unfettered truth. The theme of Hypocrisy and Deception is characterized by Rousseau’s repeated mistrust in others and his belief that everyone around him has succumbed to the shallowness of societal life. Meanwhile, he proves himself to be unworthy of trust and obsessed with the same concerns—social standing, money, and fame—that he scorns in others.