THE PROBLEM OF DENATURATION IN ROUSSEAU’S BOTANY

Abstract

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s passion for nature is well known. Less known is the fact that Rousseau devoted himself to the study of botany in the last years of his life. This article investigates how the themes of denaturation and monstrosity - classical themes of Rousseau’s thought - appear in his reflections on plants and the vegetal kingdom. After a brief incursion into the second Discourse and Émile, we will focus on the analysis of the so-called Elementary Letters on Botany, sent to Madeleine-Catherine Delessert, and the letters sent to the Duchess of Portland. In the first set of letters we find Rousseau’s views on double flowers and grafting. In the second set of letters, in turn, we find Rousseau’s views on gardens and the cultivation of exotic plants. Since Rousseau’s reflections on denaturation are entirely due to his reading of Buffon, the article also addresses the contributions of this author. We conclude with some reflections on the current state of our teratological tendency, well identified by the authors we discussed throughout the text.