Jean-Jacques Rousseau : music, illusion, and desire / Michael O'Dea.
| Author/creator |
O'Dea, Michael |
| Format | Book and Print |
| Publication Info | New York : St. Martin's Press, 1995. |
| Description | viii, 284 pages ; 23 cm |
| Subject(s) |
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| Contents | The early musical writings. 'Un Orphée moderne' ; 'Le véritable empire du cœur' ; 'Des beautés factices et peu naturelles' ; 'Y a-t-il deux principes dans la nature?' ; A sense of loss -- Music, imitation and illusion. 'Le prémier germe de la véritable musique' ; 'Les chants tendres et pathétiques d'une Héroïne gémissante' -- Disire and the danger of marrying Bérénice. 'Toute femme qui se montre se déshonore' ; "Ainsi l'a voulu la nature' -- Social order and 'le pays des chimères'. 'Un voile délicieux' ; 'Je me suis longtems fait illusion' -- Les confessions : 'Ivresse, délire, folies'. Fiction ; Reponse ; Hors de son diapason ; Signs and identity -- Dialogues and rêveries : 'Un monde idéal semblabe au nôtre'. 'Le cléf des autres signularités de cet homme' ; '...une espéce de jugement d'eux et de lui assez semblable à celui qui pourra résulter de nos estretiens' ; '...j'assimilois à mes fictions tous ces aimables objets...'. |
| Abstract | This new study of Jean-Jacques Rousseau takes his articles on music for the Encyclopedie as its starting point and suggests that, although neglected by most writers on Rousseau, they provide a unique insight into his early thinking on aesthetics, affectivity and desire. Before denouncing the arts in the First Discourse or offering an ideal of self-sufficient solitude in the Second Discourse, Rousseau celebrates the voice as the vehicle for the most intense and passionate moments of human experience. In the light of these Encyclopedie articles, the author discusses not only the later musical writings, culminating in the Essai sur l'origine des langues, but also the Lettre a d'Alembert, La Nouvelle Heloise, and the Confessions, Dialogues and Reveries. He shows that Rousseau never entirely loses sight of his early aesthetic ideal even when rejecting desire and the arts and arguing that women must be confined to the domestic sphere. Rousseau's personal retreat into fantasy is in part a means of reconciling these conflicting tendencies. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-274) and index. |
| LCCN | 94045305 |
| ISBN | 0312125704 (hardcover) |
Available Items
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions | |
| Music | Music Stacks | ML410.R86 O34 1995 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |