Abstract: Rousseau’s attitude to laughter has always been ambiguous and his first works testify – notably Lettre à d’Alembert – to his radical distrust of comic humour. Les Confessions is the most problematic text in this regard. Anxious to grip the reader, Jean-Jacques multiplies comic episodes and does not reject satire. Desirous to « tell all », he exposes himself to ridicule and its perils.
