Caroline Warman), Letters from Mistress Henley Published by Her Friend in Caroline Warman, The Nobleman and Other Romances (Penguin, 2012) Joan Stewart Hinde), Letters from Mistress Henley Published by Her Friend (first published 1784 Modern Language Association of America, 1993) Helen Maria Williams), Paul et Virginie (first published 1788)

Richard Whatmore at the University of St AndrewsĬaroline Warman at the University of Oxfordĭenis McManus at the University of Southamptonīernardin de Saint-Pierre (trans. Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton Professor of French Literature and Thought at Jesus College, Oxford Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews and Co-Director of the St Andrews Institute of Intellectual History The image above is of Emile playing with a mask on his mother's lap, from a Milanese edition published in 1805. It was also banned and burned, and Rousseau was attacked for not following these principles with his own children, who he abandoned, and for proposing a subordinate role for women in this scheme. Rousseau viewed Emile as his most imporant work, and it became very influential. In particular, he was keen to stop infants forming the view that human relations were based on domination and subordination. He held that children are born with natural goodness, which he sought to protect as they developed, allowing each to form their own conclusions from experience, avoiding the domineering influence of others. The man who gets the most out of life is not the one who has lived longest, but the one who has felt life most deeply.Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) on the education of children, as set out in his novel or treatise Emile, published in 1762. Life is not just breathing: it is action, the functioning of organs, senses, faculties, every part of us that gives the consciousness of existence.

The important thing is not to ward off death, but to make sure they really live. They should learn to bear the blows of fortune to meet either wealth or poverty, to live if need be in the frosts of Iceland or on the sweltering rock of Malta. They should be fitted to take care of themselves when they grow up. It is not enough merely to keep children alive. I stumbled across a musty little hard back copy of a book called 'Emile for today: The Emile of Jean Jacques Rousseau' by William Boyd and found myself strangely drawn to this treatise on child rearing and education.Īs Boyd suggests, 'the modern reader is unlikely to agree with everything Rousseau says', but there is some genuinely helpful common sense in there as well as some beautiful gems of existential wisdom.

The emile of jean jacques rousseau