Rousseau, from 1772 until the end of 1775, in the greatest secrecy, composes these Kafkaesque dialogues, written without continuity, "for short periods" because it was impossible, as he himself says, maintain tension. (Raymond Trousson, Rousseau).
Written between 1772 and 1776, and published posthumously, these Dialogues, one of the last works he wrote Jean-Jacques Rousseau, are complementary while an extension of his Confessions. delirious texts at first sight in a Rousseau, who suffers from a long time of persecution, undertakes the impossible task of justifying himself to the world and defend against all unjust accusations and imaginary plots in his hallucinated lucidity saw urdirse his around. Rousseau, the man, was then erected in judge Jean-Jacques, philosopher, author of some of the works (Emilio, La Nouvelle Heloise, The Social Contract) most influential of the century and studied by posterity. And Rousseau, the philosopher and the man goes hopeful that posterity, conscious, and resigned at the same time that his contemporaries have already condemned without trial. Its purpose and ambition are not others that demonstrate the unity between man and his work, unity between Jean-Jacques Rousseau and, and fight against indifference and incomprehension of the public who poisoned the last years of his life.
In his introduction to his edition of the work, Michel Foucault stresses in these dialogues, autoconfesiones species, the importance of language to impose silence. A vertical writing, which contrasts with all previous texts, and a "disassociated subject, superimposed itself, fragmented", makes these Dialogues, translated into Castilian for the first time, a unique work in the autobiographical genre.
"The Dialogues, autobiographical text, have in the bottom structure of the great theoretical texts: it comes in a single movement of thought, to found the non-existence, and to justify existence." (Michel Foucault).