Introducing Rousseau: A Graphic Guide (Graphic Guides)

To my mind, the "Introducing..." series is not so much a useful way of becoming acquainted with a writer as a delightful way of reviewing a writer already met. In advance of reading Rousseau, Nietzsche or Freud, for example, you will find the short summaries of their work encapsulated in a graphic layout deficient for any practical purpose and demeaning to your education and self-respect. Do you really want to admit that you first learned about the greats of the past by reading a "graphic"--i.e., comic-book--version? But once having read this or that work of a writer, or a smattering of works, you will find it entirely appropriate to refresh your knowledge of what you have read, to fill in the gaps of what you have not and to prove to yourself, and maybe to others, that you are not a stodgy old pedant by picking up one of these popularizations. Also, without having read anything by the writer beforehand, you cannot adequately judge the presentation of his work and the humor of the drawings in an "Introducing..." edition, which in the case of INTRODUCING KAFKA attain the level of brilliance.INTRODUCING ROUSSEAU, however, is another story. The narrative of Dave Robinson ably simplifies the extraordinary life and work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, analyzes his sometimes contradictory positions (particularly in THE SOCIAL CONTRACT) and pays tribute to his amazing originality, which was born of his alienation, solitude and protracted reflection, and presaged the French Revolution, the Age of Romanticism, the "progressive" education of children (Pestalozzi and Montessori) and even certain perspectives of Post-Modernism (Foucault); but the drawings of Oscar Zarate, accompanying the text, fail to charm and even tend to turn you off. There is wit in them (for example, Rousseau sitting naked at his desk and baring his soul in the CONFESSIONS), but the artist has chosen to portray all of his figures as mannikins, puppets or paper-doll cutouts, a device that becomes boring and insipid long before the end of 173 pages. Even worse, once having made his main ink portrait of Rousseau (page 5)--a cadaverous, lipless and bewigged skull-like bust of a man who historical portraits reveal to have been full-faced, full-lipped and handsome, Zarate reproduces it on every occasion when Rousseau is summoned forth to make a statement (pages 6, 12, 13, 18, 25...). This horrible head, shrunken down or blown up, is repeated 20 times throughout the book, and all the other drawings, both of Rousseau and his contemporaries, are photo-reproduced so often you feel cheated. It's almost enough to make you agree with the paranoid "citizen of Geneva" that people planned to malign and disfigure him after his death, but more likely he was simply short-changed. Not recommended--either for introduction or review.

Have had a smattering of Rousseau, hit and miss, through references in other works, and short summaries/surveys of philosophers and their school of thought, but this 'Introducing' guide on his life, philosophy, historical time period, country of origin and its political-social setting, was an abbreviated but very thorough explanation, and gave a good footing for understanding how very influential Rousseau has been on political ideology and been used as a basis for defending regimes such as totalitarianism and communism, and as a model for such regimes, even though it's questionable whether this was his intention, or whether his theories and philosophy has been very much misappropriated and distorted to give credibility to political extremism and oppressive political governments and bureaucracies. This 'Introducing' guide was very well done in both text and graphics, and the graphics made the learning experience that much more enjoyable, interesting, and entertaining. The graphic artist has a great sense of humor, and threw in little pictorial asides that made you think, and provided complementary information that the reader can gleam from successive readings. Great book!

I love these graphic intros. Lucid overviews. The perfect premable before a serious a systematic study.

I chose this rating due to the outstanding job Robinson did in both covering his biography and explaining his different ideas through his writings and what other philosophers said about him. To get a higher rating from me would require a full length work. Normally I would not go above a score of three stars, but this book is good enough to be worthy of four stars.It was good to follow Rousseau's life while encountering his various works at the time they were occurring in his life. This added context to his ideas from what he was writing, and what was happening in his world.I would recommend this short introduction to Rousseau for someone just wanting to learn something about him who is a general reader, to someone beginning a philosophy course or program, and to someone who is an intermediate reader of philosophy who wants a quick review.Of the Introducing Series I have read, this is one of the better ones. The graphic artist did an outstanding job in helping Rousseau to come alive. You may also appreciate to understand that Rousseau is read under both philosophy and literature. Reading this book will help you to understand this conundrum.

Rousseau, Hobbes, Locke, Volraire and others to me represent a great source of knowledge of a time in history possible in part because the greats like Plato, Aristotle, etcThis book captures the essentials on the growth and development of a disturbed but self aware man who showed through imperfections that introspection is useful at any ageTo me this book is an introduction/synopsys of the life stages and development of the man he was from childhood to his death

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I like the simple approach the author took to explain such an interesting person like Rousseau. Easy to read and understand.

Good read.