Rousseau's Republican Romance
In Rousseau's Republican Romance, Elizabeth Wingrove combines political theory and narrative analysis to argue that Rousseau's stories of sex and sexuality offer important insights into the paradoxes of democratic consent. She suggests that despite Rousseau's own protestations, "man" and "citizen" are not rival or contradictory ideals. Instead, they are deeply interdependent. Her provocative reconfiguration of republicanism introduces the concept of consensual nonconsensuality—a condition in which one wills the circumstances of one's own domination. This apparently paradoxical possibility appears at the center of Rousseau's republican polity and his romantic dyad: in both instances, the expression and satisfaction of desire entail a twin experience of domination and submission.


Drawing on a wide variety of Rousseau's political and literary writings, Wingrove shows how consensual nonconsensuality organizes his representations of desire and identity. She demonstrates the inseparability of republicanism and accounts of heterosexuality in an analysis that emphasizes the sentimental and somatic aspects of citizenship. In Rousseau's texts, a politics of consent coincides with a performative politics of desire and of emotion. Wingrove concludes that understanding his strategies of democratic governance requires attending to his strategies of symbolization. Further, she suggests that any understanding of political practice requires attending to bodily practices.

"1100006690"
Rousseau's Republican Romance
In Rousseau's Republican Romance, Elizabeth Wingrove combines political theory and narrative analysis to argue that Rousseau's stories of sex and sexuality offer important insights into the paradoxes of democratic consent. She suggests that despite Rousseau's own protestations, "man" and "citizen" are not rival or contradictory ideals. Instead, they are deeply interdependent. Her provocative reconfiguration of republicanism introduces the concept of consensual nonconsensuality—a condition in which one wills the circumstances of one's own domination. This apparently paradoxical possibility appears at the center of Rousseau's republican polity and his romantic dyad: in both instances, the expression and satisfaction of desire entail a twin experience of domination and submission.


Drawing on a wide variety of Rousseau's political and literary writings, Wingrove shows how consensual nonconsensuality organizes his representations of desire and identity. She demonstrates the inseparability of republicanism and accounts of heterosexuality in an analysis that emphasizes the sentimental and somatic aspects of citizenship. In Rousseau's texts, a politics of consent coincides with a performative politics of desire and of emotion. Wingrove concludes that understanding his strategies of democratic governance requires attending to his strategies of symbolization. Further, she suggests that any understanding of political practice requires attending to bodily practices.

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Rousseau's Republican Romance

Rousseau's Republican Romance

by Elizabeth Rose Wingrove
Rousseau's Republican Romance

Rousseau's Republican Romance

by Elizabeth Rose Wingrove

Paperback

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Overview

In Rousseau's Republican Romance, Elizabeth Wingrove combines political theory and narrative analysis to argue that Rousseau's stories of sex and sexuality offer important insights into the paradoxes of democratic consent. She suggests that despite Rousseau's own protestations, "man" and "citizen" are not rival or contradictory ideals. Instead, they are deeply interdependent. Her provocative reconfiguration of republicanism introduces the concept of consensual nonconsensuality—a condition in which one wills the circumstances of one's own domination. This apparently paradoxical possibility appears at the center of Rousseau's republican polity and his romantic dyad: in both instances, the expression and satisfaction of desire entail a twin experience of domination and submission.


Drawing on a wide variety of Rousseau's political and literary writings, Wingrove shows how consensual nonconsensuality organizes his representations of desire and identity. She demonstrates the inseparability of republicanism and accounts of heterosexuality in an analysis that emphasizes the sentimental and somatic aspects of citizenship. In Rousseau's texts, a politics of consent coincides with a performative politics of desire and of emotion. Wingrove concludes that understanding his strategies of democratic governance requires attending to his strategies of symbolization. Further, she suggests that any understanding of political practice requires attending to bodily practices.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691009971
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 03/13/2000
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 7.75(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Wingrove is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

A Note on Texts and Translations xiii

INTRODUCTION How to Engender a Political Subject 3

CHAPTER ONE Savage Sensibilities 24

Impossible Beginnings 24

Perfecting Pity 30

(Re)Constituting Nature 37

State Power and Servile Desire 44

"To suffer is the first thing he ought to learn..." 54

CHAPTER TWO Object Lessons 58

Sensing the Difference 58

To What Does Sex Refer? 63

Guys and Dolls 70

Imagining Sophie 77

Marital Arts 84

Paternalism, Barbarism, Freedom, and the State 92

CHAPTER THREE Life Stories 102

Textual Symptoms 102

Novel Creations 108

Gilded Privations 114

Chalet Morality 121

Picture Perfect 127

Self-Perfecting Narratives 131

CHAPTER FOUR Loving the Body Politic 144

Wordplay 144

Personations 148

Maternal Learning 154

National Erotics 163

CHAPTER FIVE Republican Performances 169

What's Your Pleasure? 169

Inside the Cave 174

"That charming sentiment of shame..." 180

Masters of Philosophy 186

Speaking to the Eyes 191

Getting a Taste for One Another 197

CHAPTER SIX Making Rhetoric Matter 207

Agonies and Ecstasies 207

The Story and Two Deferrals 211

Dilemmas of Desire 217

Acting Free 225

Sovereign Representations 232

CONCLUSION Isn't It Romantic? 236

Works Cited 245

Index 251

What People are Saying About This

Kirstie M. McClure

A challenging contribution both to feminist theory and to political theory more generally. Wingrove's account of the effective and affective place of sexual difference in Rousseau's republican imaginary raises larger questions for democratic theory in particular, for it reveals the dynamics of desire and submission that underlie Rousseau's democratic emphases on the rule of law and government by consent. This offers a provocative interpretation of the democratic paradox--that citizens must be forced to be free--and it does so with striking originality.

Tracy Strong

This is an original, provocative, and extremely intelligent reading of Rousseau. I found myself continually learning from it.
Tracy Strong, University of California, San Diego

McClure

A challenging contribution both to feminist theory and to political theory more generally. Wingrove's account of the effective and affective place of sexual difference in Rousseau's republican imaginary raises larger questions for democratic theory in particular, for it reveals the dynamics of desire and submission that underlie Rousseau's democratic emphases on the rule of law and government by consent. This offers a provocative interpretation of the democratic paradox—that citizens must be forced to be free—and it does so with striking originality.
Kirstie M. McClure, The Johns Hopkins University

From the Publisher

"This is an original, provocative, and extremely intelligent reading of Rousseau. I found myself continually learning from it."—Tracy Strong, University of California, San Diego

"A challenging contribution both to feminist theory and to political theory more generally. Wingrove's account of the effective and affective place of sexual difference in Rousseau's republican imaginary raises larger questions for democratic theory in particular, for it reveals the dynamics of desire and submission that underlie Rousseau's democratic emphases on the rule of law and government by consent. This offers a provocative interpretation of the democratic paradox—that citizens must be forced to be free—and it does so with striking originality."—Kirstie M. McClure, The Johns Hopkins University

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