The Chronological Edition of the Complete works of Rousseau: a Few Remarks

Résumé 0

Launched in 2010, the new edition of Rousseau’s Collected Works currently being published by Classiques Garnier aims first and foremost to publish all of Rousseau’s works in a more “complete” way than the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade edition, which excluded several texts that were clearly considered “minor” or redundant. But it is the principle of systematically going back to the manuscripts (when they exist) and, even more so, the adoption of a chronological plan that make this editorial project original. The aim is to gain a better understanding of Rousseau’s way of working, to enter more deeply into the laboratory of his work, and to invite us to take the side roads that allow us to explore the work in its own dynamic, disregarding traditional hierarchies as well as generic and disciplinary boundaries: this is the only way to discern the multiple resonances between the works and the intense circulation of themes and concepts within the Rousseauist corpus.