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Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Book 1, 1719-1723 Summary

  • Rousseau has a brother, but the guy up and disappears early in Rousseau's childhood.
  • Rousseau is basically an only son after his brother moves away permanently—poor guy.
  • Little Rousseau gets the royal treatment from everyone around him, but he's a bit of a brat.
  • He urinates in his neighbor's cooking-pot while she's at church one day (classy, Rousseau).
  • Rousseau's aunt is a huge influence in his life. He still remembers her beautiful voice singing songs.
  • When Rousseau is still a kid, his father is almost thrown in jail for drawing his sword against a French captain named M. Gautier—intense.
  • Rousseau's dad gets the heck out of Dodge rather than go to jail. In other words, he leaves Geneva permanently.
  • Rousseau stays behind under the charge of his kindly uncle, Bernard.
  • Rousseau also has a cousin named Bernard, which gets a little confusing. The two kids get to be best friends.
  • Together, the kids are sent to a village called Bossey to learn Latin from a pastor, M. Lambercier.
  • The pastor's wife, Mlle Lambercier, lets both boys sleep in her bed regularly.
  • While it's all innocent, Rousseau is sure that this experience led him down the path to perversity.
  • Rousseau gets in hot water when Mlle Lamberciers's comb turns up broken.
  • Everyone just assumes that Rousseau has committed the crime, but he holds strong and refuses to confess.
  • To this day, Rousseau remembers this comb incident. Still, he maintains his innocence.
  • Rousseau and his cousin Bernard plant a walnut tree on a terrace one fine day.
  • The cousins rig an aqueduct to keep water running straight towards the tree.
  • M. Lambercier spots the boys' construction and promptly wrecks it, yelling "An aqueduct! An aqueduct!"
  • This turns out to be one of Rousseau's dearest memories (go figure).
  • Little Rousseau starts flirting with some older girls: Mlle de Vulson and Mlle Goton. They see him as a little kid, but he's totally in love.
  • Rousseau is furious when Mlle de Vulson ends up getting married to another guy. Tough luck, dude.