Perspective

The author was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He was a craftsman's son, and thereby a member of the middle class. His work is translated from French, which does affect how it comes across to readers.

The time and culture from which it emerged was France in the midst of the 1700s. The culture on the whole was in a more libertine phase. Rousseau was known to have associated with unconventional ideas such as atheism and sex without marriage. In Emile, he professes the conventional approach to marriage. In fact he goes so far as to advocate a limited form of arranged marriage.

He has created a narrative voice for the work. Unless one has read his other works, it is not possible to precisely distinguish his personal voice as a writer and the alterations that he made when writing Emile, representing the boy's father and tutor. He has...