L’enfance d’Émile et l’enfant des Confessions

Regarding the relationship between anthropology and autobiography in Rousseau’s writing, we often assume that the operational theoretical model for reading the Confessions is not Émile but rather the Second Discours. This contribution suggests, conversely, that reading Émile alongside the first books of the Confessions is mutually illuminating. The convergences between the child of the autobiographical narrative and that of the theoretical fiction are both profound and numerous, although always partial.