Why was Jean Jacques Rousseau prosecuted, and what were the controversies that caused him public difficulty?

Question

I read that he worked for the French ambassador in Venice, but ws dismissed and had to flee to avoid prosecution by the state.

In his "Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire," he makes frequent mention of humiliations and injuries which have caused him to be shunned by society, and vice versa.

What were the controversies in his life?

Answer 1

Rousseau was a very difficult man - tortured and outspokenl.  He was born in Geneva when it was an independent state, but moved to Paris.  His writings criticised French art and politics and he was put under police surveillance.  For an already paranoid man, this was enough to drive him even more over the top.  He quarrelled with  most of the people who took him in and then wrote two of his most famous books - "Emile" and "The Social Contract".  The former advised parents to let their children run free in a kind of hippy upbringing whilst the latter advocated civil disobedience.  Both were condemned by the French government so he had to flee to Switzerland, but was not much more popular there.  He then fled to England, which he hated.  He was eventually allowed back to France, but was always under surveillance and he became increasingly paranoid in his old age.  He wrote his greatest book "The Confessions" at this time and was actually stopped by the police when he tried to read some of it out in public.  It is one of the most self-flagellating autobiographies ever written.

Rousseau was a very troubled, insecure and paranoid man and brought a lot of the controversies upon himself, but his courage and commitment to telling his version of the truth are to be admired.