Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Book 8, 1750-1752 Summary

  • Good news! Rousseau has won a major prize for the essay he wrote a while back.
  • Therese is still bearing Rousseau children.
  • Get this: Rousseau has a super-weird way of dealing with his kids. He ships each one off to the Foundling Hospital so he doesn't have to deal with them.
  • He has five kids in all. Each of them is dealt with in this bizarre way.
  • Rousseau reminds us that he's telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We don't have to like it.
  • Speaking of his confessions, Rousseau writes about his friend M. de Chenonceaux's wedding to a beautiful woman.
  • The new Mme de Chenonceaux spends a lot of time alone at her apartment, hanging out with Rousseau. Rousseau doesn't make a move, but he thinks about it.
  • Another friend of Rousseau's, the Receiver-General of Finances, makes Rousseau his cashier. It's a sweet deal.
  • But Rousseau becomes more ill than usual from working so hard.
  • It's time for a less stressful job. Rousseau takes up the somewhat mundane task of copying music by the page. At least it's a little extra cash.
  • Therese and Rousseau's apartment gets robbed by a man who looks suspiciously like Therese's black sheep brother. They can't be sure, though.
  • Rousseau becomes the center of controversy when his essay is published. Suddenly, everyone wants a piece of Rousseau.
  • Diderot stands by Rousseau, since they're BFFs for life.
  • Rousseau gets it into his head to create a comic opera. He's so passionate that he writes the whole piece in six days.