Retreat
J. King, 2nd View of the Island of St. Peter, on the Lake of Bienne in Switzerland : The residence of J. J. Rousseau Anno 1765. / King George III’s Personal Coloured Views Collection, British Library
Retreat, Rousseau: takes refuge on the little island of Saint-Pierre (Lake of Bienne), Switzerland: “very pleasant and singularly placed for the happiness of a man who likes to cut himself off (se circonscrire) (to circumscribe oneself: fine expression for the retreat).
Dream of making refuge eternal, perpetual imprisonment (Rousseau) (in fact: two months)
Eternity, prison? = exemption from (social) responsibility.
Roland Barthes, The Neutral, 139.