The French philosopher-enlightener, writer, composer. He served as a lackey, scribe, governor, teacher of music etc. Before 1741 he lived in Switzerland, then he left for Paris. In 1743-44 he is the secretary of the French Embassy in Venice. In Paris he became friends with Denis Diderot and other enlighteners, he cooperated in one encyclopaedia, for which he wrote articles mainly in the sphere of music.  In 1762 after there saw the light the pedagogical novel “Emile” and the political tractate “The Social Contract”, being afraid of an arrest, he left France. In 1770 he returned to Paris, and was busy copying scores. The last years of his life he spent in Ermenonville.

   Jean-Jacques Rousseau is the most influential representative of the French sentimentalism, the last one and most revolutionary stage of the Enlightenment. The social-philosophical views of Rousseau found reflection in his tractates.

   In “Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts” (1750) he criticizes the modern civilization based on inequality and cruel exploitation of the people. These ideas received further development in “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality” (1755). In the tractate “The Social Contract” (1762) he draws the picture of ideal society, maximally nearing nature. The pedagogical views of Rousseau found their expression in the book “Emile or about Upbringing” (1762). The creative activity of Rousseau is diversified by genre: verses, poems, comedies (“Narcissus” (1733)), “The Prisoners of War” (1743) and others); the operas, for which he himself composed the libretto and music (“The Country Wizard” (1752)); the one-act lyrical scene (“Pigmalion” (1770)); the novels (“Julie or the New Eloise” (1761) and “The Confession” (1766-1769)).

   During the period of the Jacobean dictatorship the remains of Rousseau were transferred to the Pantheon.

   At the exhibition from the fond of the National library of the RK there are presented the works of the author published from 1817 to 1907 in the French and Russian languages: “Emile” (1817); “The Social Contract” (1827, 1906, 1907); “The Confession” (1906) and others.