Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius is a 2005 biography by Leo Damrosch, published by Houghton Mifflin. The book depicts the life of eighteenth century philosopher, writer, composer and political theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau, documenting his unorthodox rise from obscure beginnings in which the orphaned and unschooled Rousseau rose from meandering journeyman to become one of the foremost thinkers in the Age of Enlightenment.

The book was a finalist for the 2005 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

Narrative
The biography details Rousseau's life, explaining his tumultuous beginnings when his mother died shortly after birthing him and his father abandoned him during his adolescence. Rosseau spent the next years travelling around Europe, and developed a relationship with Madame de Warens. With no formal education and penniless, he worked various jobs such as a valet, a diplomatic secretary, a teacher, and a translator for a monk. Around the age of 35, Rousseau settled in Paris and began his writings for which he would be known. He wrote the opera Le Devin du Village (The Village Soothsayer) in 1752, which is still performed to this day. In Paris, he married Therese Levasseur.

Rosseau's ideas about the inherent goodness of people and societal institutions' inhibition of that goodness with its social stratification and regulations proved divisive in their day. This view was in contrast to the prevailing view at the time of the Enlightenment that people were inherently immoral and institutions, such as government or the church, were required to curb people's brutality and allow humanity to prosper. Rousseau explains this theory of the inherent goodness of man and society's restrictions in his 1755 treatise Discourse on Inequality. His work The Social Contract (1762) further extolled the individual rights of people and advocated for a limited government which functions in a limited capacity only to allow people to exercise their freedom.

Rousseau's novel about two lovers, Julie; or, The New Heloise, published in 1761, became the most popular novel of the 18th century. He then published Emile, or on Education in 1762, an instructional book which was highly influential and became one of the most important works on raising children. In 1782, he wrote his Confessions, which was an intimate self reflection on his life. The work included many of his regrets and perceived shortcomings, including giving up all of his children for adoption. His confessions would become the archetype for the modern day autobiography. In 1776 Rousseau wrote a collection of poetry Reveries of the Solitary Walker, which included many poems about his own life.

Reception
Writing for The New York Times, writer Stacy Schiff stated that the biography was lacking in explaining the development of some of Rousseau's philosophical ideas and theories. However, in conclusion, Schiff states: "...Rousseau pioneered the concept that ideas fell out of experience, and the erratic, inventive urgency of the life is all here. A delight to read, Damrosch comes as close to Rousseau's authentic self as we are likely to get." Writing for the Washington Post, author Michael Dirda applauded Damrosch's literary style stating: "Damrosch is an academic -- a professor of 18th-century literature at Harvard -- but he nonetheless writes for ordinary readers, with clarity, a light touch and immense zest." Darda concluded that the biography "provides an ideal introduction to both this complex man and his troubling ideas. It is an important book, but also a provocative and exceptionally entertaining one." Writing for The Nation, historian David A. Bell criticized the book for not discussing Rosseau's works in the context of the historical period; the Enlightenment, including omitting Rousseau's interactions with other contemporary thinkers, common readers or the reactions his works provoked from the church or the state. However, Bell stated the biography succeeded marvelously by providing a "full, vivid, dramatic and well informed portrait" of its subject.

The book was a finalist for the 2005 National Book Award for Nonfiction, with the judges stated the work was: "Witty, pungent, and erudite, Leo Damrosch’s Rousseau renders one of the most canonical figures in Western literary and political thought into a full-bodied human, flawed, glorious, searching, and bold."