Emile
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau · Émile, ou De l'éducation
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1762
- Form
- Treatise
- Language
- French
- Length
- Long · 500 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendEmile, or On Education, translated by Allan BloomBasic Books, 1979The standard complete translation, with an introduction that explains why the book matters for politics as well as pedagogy.
These links go straight to Amazon and Bookshop.org and earn this site nothing today. Prices are the same either way. How this works.
A treatise on education cast as the story of an imaginary pupil, Emile, raised by a tutor from infancy to marriage. Rousseau argues that children should learn from things and experience rather than from books and precepts, that reasoning comes late, and that the aim is a man who is at once natural and fit to live among others. Book IV contains the Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar, and Book V introduces Emile's bride Sophie and the education of women. The book was burned in Paris and Geneva.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Emile are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
