Summary: Original English-language translations by Paul and Patricia de Man of significant texts by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, editorial corrigenda, and drafts of potential introductory texts.

In 1972 Paul de Man was contracted by Viking Press to edit a collection of texts by Jean-Jacques Rousseau for their Portable readers series. Paul de Man and his wife Patricia spent the next ten years working on the translations for this volume. The collection remained incomplete at the time of Paul de Man’s death in 1983. The presentation here of The Portable Rousseau is based on extant translations by the De Mans and related editorial papers by Paul de Man.

The Portable Rousseau was digitized under the direction of Professor Martin McQuillan with a grant from the British Academy.

The Paul de Man papers are available for research in the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room at the UC Irvine Libraries and are described in a finding aid in the Online Archive of California.

Provenance

Part of the text presented here was part of the original deposit of the Paul de Man papers in the UC Irvine Libraries. Other parts were retained by Patricia de Man in order to complete the Viking commission posthumously. A transcription of the proposed introduction was undertaken by Professor Ellen Burt. After the death of Patricia de Man, further editing of these papers was undertaken by Professor Cynthia Chase on the request of Patsy de Man (daughter of Paul and Patricia de Man). These parts were finally deposited at the UC Irvine Libraries in 2009 as part of the research project that lea to the transcription of Textual Allegories. Under the supervision of Professor Martin McQuillan, the collection was collated and digitized according to the available items listed on the original ‘Table of Contents’ in April 2010 with a grant from the British Academy.

Copyright