Toward an Understanding of the Novelistic Dimension of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Emile

The multi-genre combination of philosophic and literary expression in Rousseau’s Emile provides an opportunity to explore the relationship between the novelistic structure of this work and the substance of its philosophical teachings. This dissertation explores this matter through a textual analysis of the role of the novelistic dimension of the Emile. Despite the vast literature on Rousseau’s manner of writing, critical aspects of the novelistic form of the Emile remain either misunderstood or overlooked. This study challenges the prevailing image in the existing scholarship by arguing that Rousseau’s Emile is a prime example of how form and content can fortify each other. The novelistic structure of the Emile is inseparable from Rousseau’s conception and communication of his philosophy. That is, the novelistic form of the Emile is not simply harmonious with the substance of its philosophical content, but its form and content also merge to reinforce Rousseau’s capacity to express his teachings. This dissertation thus proposes to demonstrate how and why the novelistic dimension of the Emile belongs to it not mechanistically, but integrally. To illustrate this central idea, this dissertation is divided into three sub-themes, each of which is motivated by a corresponding major research question: (1) Rousseau as a writer of a novel: What is the function of the novelistic structure of the Emile? (2) Rousseau as an appropriator of a novel: To what end does Rousseau use (and abuse) novels in the Emile as part of Emile’s and Sophie’s pedagogical programs? (3) Rousseau as a fictional character in a novel: What is the function of Rousseau’s fictionalized self-representation in the Emile as Jean-Jacques the tutor? The findings of each chapter prompt a re-thinking of Rousseau’s novelistic technique in the Emile as it relates to the substance of his broader philosophical teachings.Ph.D