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.

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

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

Reviews
"An original and engaging analytical bridge between Rousseau's literary and political writings."--Ethan Putterman, Political Studies



Book Information
ISBN 9780691009971
Author Elizabeth Rose Wingrove
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 397g