Christopher Kelly

Thanks for the tip.

Perhaps the two most common reactions of my students when they read the Confessions.

In his "Histoire" Thiers quotes Chaumette as saying in a speech, "Rousseau était peuple aussi, et il disait: Quand le peuple n'aura plus rien à manger, il mangera le riche."

No one has ever been able to identify a source in Rousseau for this.

I am sure that he did not say it.

Ahead of @chrisjkelly.bsky.social's book talk, you can learn more about Rousseau's impressive and expansive letter writing at the @cornellupress.bsky.social book page for Eve Grace and his recent volume, "Letters from Rousseau":
cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501781933/letters-from-rousseau/

A lavender book cover with main title in black text in the middle, Letters from Rousseau" and Rousseau's signature in white at top.

Inspired? Find more praise and information and inspiration and your copy (of this and others in the phenomenal Agora Editions series) at the @cornellupress.bsky.social book page: cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501781933/letters-from-rousseau/

www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/series/agora...

Rousseau’s Republic of Letters – Jonathan Marks A new edition of Rousseau’s letters sheds light on the personality and thought of one of the Enlightenment’s greatest and strangest figures.

ICYMI: Great praise for "Letters from Rousseau" in Law and Liberty, noting how Eve Grace and @chrisjkelly.bsky.social's @cornellupress.bsky.social detailed and expansive volume "deepen[s] our understanding of Rousseau, to whose writings we attribute permanent worth."

lawliberty.org/book-review/...

Might be able to find some useful notes if you visited Middlemarch.

Do you mean a few years or a few decades?

In Book 1, he refers to "des femmes au comptoir" whom he thinks will make fun of him. He says that his fear of this began when he was an apprentice but continues up to the time he is writing.

I would agree that he implies that, when he was thirty, he thought it might reveal his status as a servant if he went to a bakery rather than a patisserie. Both here and in Book One he makes it clear that he was ALWAYS afraid to go into a patisserie for fear of being laughed at by a shop-girl.

The passage shows both fear of detection if he sends another servant for the bread and concern for status if he goes himself. He also is reluctant to go into a patissier if anyone else is there.

Team Rousseau! Great news! "Letters from Rousseau" is now available and represents perhaps the most intriguing collection of his letters, expertly compiled by Eve Grace and @chrisjkelly.bsky.social, in the @cornellupress.bsky.social Agora Editions series: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Eve Grace and I have finished work on a volume of selected correspondence of Rousseau for Cornell University Press. It will be out by the end of the summer. Here is the cover to whet your appetite.

Nice shout-out to Beacon Press. I do think that you should not restrict yourself to pointing out the need to consider "permissible hierarch." What about "just hierarchy," conditions in which equality might well be unjust?

He is a very adventurous musician with many fabulous recordings.

Mother Brook and the Mills of East Dedham By: Judith A. Neiswander  As one of the first two inland towns to be settled in Massachusetts, Dedham has an ancient history. One of earliest accomplishments of the town’s first settlers was the creat...

My wife, Judy Neiswander, just published an excellent book on what was arguably the first canal for powering mills in North America (1639-41). Great social history and wonderful pictures: "Mother Brook and the Mills of East Dedham."

silverstreetmedia.com/products/mot...

"Over the hill" is a synonym for seasoned or mature.

Just two more days in London. Have seen two plays (Oedipus and Juno and the Paycock), several exhibitions, had meals or coffee with numerous friends. A good distraction from the recent election.

I will be in London for about two weeks starting tomorrow. Happy to grab a cup of coffee with any Rousseau scholars or other friends.

I agree (with my experience of political theory in political science). It may not be what they were thinking about when they entered graduate school, and they might or might not be bitter about that.

As usual, a very helpful presentation. In the very first class I taught as a teaching assistant (1974) there was a student who agreed with Russell in arguing that nuclear weapons should be used preemptively to establish a world government in order to save us from nuclear annihilation.

In fact, this remark is reasonably well known even here. I prefer your version.

A part of me wants this to be the description of every event.

What an interesting and strange career. I remember him in an episode of "Columbo" decades ago.

I look forward to reading it.

The remarks you make in passing about anti-semitism and your note referring to the Review of Metaphysics are particularly interesting to someone like me who is not in a philosophy department, although I was able to observe some of the disfunction at Yale as an undergraduate major.

From my perch in Philadelphia it's good to see Pennsylvania get some recognition for its place in the history of political thought.

Not to mention Montaigne in Rousseau's case.

Thanks for the invitation. I have already profited by reading your posts.