The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau is pretty straightforward. Rousseau is bound and determined to be as truthful as possible, even if it means including some pretty salacious detail. By sticking "Confessions" in the title, it's pretty clear that Rousseau is identifying how his work fits into a long tradition of confessional writing. Specifically, he's got his eye on St. Augustine's classic Confessions—not that Rousseau sees himself as a saint, by any measure.