A Solitary Walker's Reflections

Author: (French) Rousseau
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: The Reveries of a Solitary Walker is the last work of French philosopher and literary giant Jean-Jacques Rousseau. These ten meditations by the solitary walker were written "for himself," revealing Rousseau's admiration for emotions, praise for self, and love for nature. At the same time, it shines its own light, illuminating the dirty souls of countless individuals trapped in the secular society. Like the Walden of American philosopher Thoreau, it tells the story of a solitary hermit conversing with nature. Such harmonious scenes, where humans are seamlessly integrated with nature, are rare texts in the history of Western culture. This walk is, of course, a physical one, where Rousseau savors the beauty of nature and collects plant specimens; it is also a spiritual walk, where he gazes within and engages in intimate conversations with his soul, unadorned, finding solace; it is even a literary walk, where Rousseau not only created the new literary genre of reverie—prose fiction—but also pioneered the Romantic movement. This little book has also become one of the finest prose works in French literature.