Rousseau, Robespierre and English Romanticism [Paperback]

Re-examines Rousseau's influence on French Revolution and English Romanticism, through the mediating figure of Robespierre.This book re-opens the question of Rousseau's influence on the French Revolution and on English Romanticism, by examining the relationship between his confessional writings and his political theory. It argues that by looking at the way in which Rousseau's writings were mediated by the speeches and actions of Robespierre, we can gain a clearer and more concrete sense of the legacy he left to English writers. He shows how the writings of Godwin, Wollstonecraft, Wordsworth and Hazlitt rehearse and reflect upon the Jacobin tradition in the aftermath of the Terror.This book re-opens the question of Rousseau's influence on the French Revolution and on English Romanticism, by examining the relationship between his confessional writings and his political theory. It argues that by looking at the way in which Rousseau's writings were mediated by the speeches and actions of Robespierre, we can gain a clearer and more concrete sense of the legacy he left to English writers. He shows how the writings of Godwin, Wollstonecraft, Wordsworth and Hazlitt rehearse and reflect upon the Jacobin tradition in the aftermath of the Terror.This book reopens the question of Rousseau's influence on the French Revolution and on English Romanticism, by examining the relationship between his confessional writings and his political theory. Gregory Dart argues that by looking at the way in which Rousseau's writings were mediated by the speeches and actions of Robespierre, we can gain a clearer and more concrete sense of the legacy he left to English writers. He shows how the writings of Godwin, Wollstonecraft, Wordsworth and Hazlitt rehearse and reflect upon the Jacobin tradition in the aftermath of the Terror.Introduction; 1. Despotism of liberty: Robespierre and the illusion of politics; 2. The politics of confession in Rousseau and Robespierre; 3. Chivalry, justice and thl£ã