Politics and the Arts: Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theatre / Edition 1

by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Allan Bloom

Overview

This excellent translation makes available a classic work central to one of the most interesting controversies of the eighteenth century: the quarrel between Rousseau and Voltaire. Besides containing some of the most sensitive literary criticism ever written (especially of Molière), the book is an excellent introduction to the principles of classical political thought. It demonstrates the paradoxes of Rousseau's thought and clearly displays the temperament that led him to repudiate the hopes of the Enlightenment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801490712
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	10/31/1968
Series:	Agora Editions
Edition description:	AGORA PAPERBACK EDITION
Pages:	196
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 10.88(h) x 0.45(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Editorial Reviews

This careful translation is an effort to revive interest in a neglected work of Rousseau, a moral polemic condemning drama as a mode of public entertainment. Written in 1758, the letter was a spirited response to d'Alembert's article in L'Encyclopédia suggesting that Geneva establish a theater. Bloom's systematic and thoughtful analysis of Rousseau's arguments and their intellectual background provides an illuminating way into the essay.

American Scholar

This careful translation is an effort to revive interest in a neglected work of Rousseau, a moral polemic condemning drama as a mode of public entertainment. Written in 1758, the letter was a spirited response to d'Alembert's article in L'Encyclopédia suggesting that Geneva establish a theater. Bloom's systematic and thoughtful analysis of Rousseau's arguments and their intellectual background provides an illuminating way into the essay.

-- "American Scholar"

From the Publisher