Julie; or, The New Heloise
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Julie, or the New Heloise (Template:Lang-fr) is an epistolary novel by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, published in 1761 by Rey (Amsterdam). The original edition was entitled Lettres de deux amans habitans d'une petite ville au pied des Alpes.
The novel’s subtitle points to the history of Heloise and Pierre Abélard, a medieval story of passion and Christian renunciation. The novel was put on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.
Although Rousseau wrote it as a novel, a philosophical theory about authenticity permeates through it. He explores autonomy and authenticity as moral values. A common interpretation is that Rousseau values the ethics of authenticity over rational moral principles. He also illustrates that you should only do what society asks of you when it's congruent with the "secret principles" and feelings which constitute your core identity. Acting inauthentic is self-destructive.
