Montaigne: Essays

Customer Reviews:

The Zenith of intuitive reasoning.......2007-02-05

Michel(Eyquem)de Montaigne
French courtier and author
(born Feb. 28,28,1533,Chateux de Montaingne,France
died-Sept. 23,1592,Chateaux de Montaigne)
He served as a counselor at the Bordeaux Parliament.There he met the lawyer
Etienne de La Boetie,with which he formed an extraordinary friendship.The void left by La Boetie's death in 1563 likely led Montaigne to begin his writing career.He retired to his chateaux in 1571 to work on his 'Essais'
(1580,1588),a series of short prose reflections on subjects that form one of the most captivating and intimate self-portraits ever written.
"'''At once deeply critical of his time and deeply involved in its struggles,he sought understanding through self-examination,which he developed into a description of the human condition and an ethic of authenticity,self-acceptance,and struggles,he sought understanding through
self-examination,which he developed into a description of the human condition,and an ethic of authenticity,self-acceptance;and tolerance..."
(excerpt from the Columbia Encyclopedia on a profile of Montaigne)
It reminds me alot of Dr. Samuel Johnson's writings on self-examination, in his brilliant series of essays called 'THE RAMBLER',and also an amazing text on the diseases of the imagination.Montaigne is a fascination study.The essays are exquisitely written and the subject matter is continuosly changing,which makes it difficult to put down.This collection of essays along with the writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson come highly reccomended.Enjoy.

"Reader, thou hast here an honest book...".......2006-05-21

Montaigne is considered the father the personal essay. And within them, it seems, there is not a topic he didn't cover. After serving in the Bordeaux Parlement, in 1570 "he retired to his chateau...to read, think, and write." This is where his essays are born, late in his life, and soon to be suffering from kidney stones, which would take his life (he discusses his mistrust of doctors in "Of The Resemblance Of Children To Their Fathers")

The tone of essays reveal someone who was highly skeptical and pessimestic. But you quickly gain a sense of how intelligent and honest this man was. Montaigne, in the preface, implies the essays are written to discover and reveal himself and recommends that no one should waste their "leisure about so frivolous and vain a subject." Although, here he is greatly mistaken. Montaigne, to me, was a genius; and there is so much wisdom one can part with after reading only a few of his essays, as can be seen in his influence over brillant minds like Shakespeare and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Any library would seem bare without him.

Some favorite quotes from his essays:
"The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself."

"A man should keep for himself a little back shop, all his own, quite unadulterated, in which he establishes his true freedom and chief place of seclusion and solitude."

"Even on the most exalted throne in the world we are only sitting on our own bottom."

An enlightened consciousness.......2005-10-10

Michel de Montaigne is considered by many to be the inventor of the literary form of the essay, so the collection from which these excerpts come is important in several ways. Montaigne was a humanist and a skeptic in his philosophical approach, and essentially looked at his own experience as the first topic for examination always.

The book of Essays was one he worked on periodically throughout his life, issuing different editions, the first of which appeared in 1580. Montaigne's style of writing is sometimes stream-of-consciousness, sometimes structured in more formal styles.

Montaigne's stated task in his preface to the reader is for self-examination, but it becomes very clear that Montaigne sees himself as an 'everyman' character. He strives for full-disclosure; indeed, he writes that were he another culture 'which are said to live still in the sweet freedom of nature's first laws', then he might have appeared naked.

This is a complete set of the Essays, together with a helpful introduction and notes for reading. As Montaigne added to his essays periodically, they are not necessarily in the order he wrote them, but this collection has preserved their order according to his standards.

Montaigne's essays show a pessimism and skepticism, perhaps based on the kinds of conflicts between Catholics and Protestants going on, in France and elsewhere, as well as the periodic flare of plague. He was a humanist who saw cultures as having value internal to themselves and preferred to not universalise morals, laws and other ideas.

Montaigne was sometimes conventional in thought (seeing marriage as necessary for children, and distrusting the idea of romantic love), but other times he was very much a free thinker (particularly when it came to religious dogma or absolutist kinds of philosophical paradigms). Montaigne had respect for those who followed religious codes and ways of life, but distrusted those who tried to impose such ideas upon others.

Montaigne added to his essays twice in major ways, but did not strive for consistency or systematic ways of thinking - he declined to remove previous essays if they contradicted new writings.

Montaigne is perhaps the most important French philosopher prior to the Enlightenment. His essays remain popular because they have a sense of the modern and the current about them.

A Portrait of a Fascinating Bibliomaniac.......2005-06-11

"My library is in the third story of a tower; on the first is my chapel, on the second a bedroom with ante-chambers, where I often lie to be alone; and above it there is a great wardrobe...Adjoining my library is a very neat little room, in which a fire can be laid in winter, and which is pleasantly lighted by a window." Montaigne, On Three Kinds of Relationships

From the start, Montaigne (1533-1592) shows his great love of writing about life and his ultimate pleasure: exercising his mind through the discussion of philosophy. He also loved to point out incongruity and excelled in making logical conclusions.

His honesty seems to be his most attractive quality as he addresses the horror and beauty of life. At times he seems to almost be a reporter describing experience, detached and unemotional. Then when he delves into friendship he shows a new depth of emotion.

"There is no action or thought of mine in which I do not miss him, as he would have missed me. For just as he infinitely surpassed me in every other talent and virtue, so did he also in the duties of friendship." ~Montaigne, On Friendship

Montaigne's writing is at times a history lesson. He draws from the writings of Ovid, Cicero, Horace, Socrates, Plato, Seneca, Virgil and Petrarch.

His topics are fascinating and get even more interesting when he talks about the custom of wearing clothes, the Platonic paradox or why churches use incense. He explores the power of the imagination, truth and error, friendship, why civilized man is at times no better than a savage in his actions and freely discusses his ideas about education.

I must say that when he discusses books, this topic overflows and ends up in other essays. So, while the chapter on books may seem short, you will still find some excellent quotes later on while reading about the three kinds of relationships or "On Physiognomy," which seems to be more about the plague and death being inevitable and how philosophers contemplate death as a life-long exercise.

I learned a great deal about Socrates and how the Athenians felt when he died and that swans sing when they die. It all seems unrelated, but somehow Montaigne casually introduces topic after topic with great intellectual flair. Finally we happen upon his survival when captured by a band of horsemen. Then, we understand why he has titled this chapter "Physiognomy," because he is saved by the kind look on his face and his firmness of speech.

We also learn about his beautiful library. Later he discusses topics of interest like how Emperors built huge arenas that could be filled with deep water filled with sea monsters. These topics all seem related to his love of research.

While he discusses history at length and loves to add in quotes, he is also a keen observer of human nature. He sees life so clearly and freely says what most people fear will offend. Like that when we find a fault in other people, it might be a fault in our character or how strong we have to be to handle being criticized and why there are remarkable proofs of friendship when someone gives constructive criticism. Of course, many would not agree with this, although our friends do see us rather clearly.

"One must learn to endure what one cannot avoid," becomes more relevant near the end when Montaigne faces his own death. He discusses life so casually and even tells us about what he loves to eat and still doesn't enjoy. Life's simple pleasures are still of utmost importance even when he is suffering greatly with illness.

My blinds had turned golden in the early morning when I finished reading this book. I had the longing to sit by a fireplace and read another book by Montaigne. While it took three days to read the essays, this book almost ended too soon. Reading the essays was like discovering a long lost friend or a book through which we can live vicariously in another time and place.

~TheRebeccaReview.com

A Superior Translation of a Great Writer.......2005-02-20

Over the years I have kept a copy of the Essays by my favorite reading chair to be enjoyed at random, particularly in the middle of the night when Entropy seems to hold the upper hand. They exercise a remarkable calming effect.

Seduced by the idea of having a complete set of all the Essays, I initially opted for the Screech translation, but found it wooden and pedantic. I moved to the Cohen translation, which does not include all of the Essays, but has all of the major ones and is far more enjoyable.

Average customer rating:

Retired, seeking distance to a world of bloody fights ...
Retired, seeking distance to a world of bloody fights ...
Servant of the Humane
Complete -- at last!
A wonderful, complete collection

The Complete Works (Everyman's Library)
Michel de Montaigne
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

European | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Essays (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics)
Selected Works (Everyman's Library)
Life of Johnson (Oxford World's Classics)
The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso (Everyman's Library)
Essays and Lectures: Nature: Addresses and Lectures / Essays: First and Second Series / Representative Men / English Traits / The Conduct of Life (Library of America)

ASIN: 1400040213
Release Date: 2003-04-29

Book Description

Humanist, skeptic, acute observer of himself and others, Michel de Montaigne (1533—92) was the first to use the term “essay” to refer to the form he pioneered, and he has remained one of its most famous practitioners. He reflected on the great themes of existence in his wise and engaging writings, his subjects ranging from proper conversation and good reading, to the raising of children and the endurance of pain, from solitude, destiny, time, and custom, to truth, consciousness, and death. Having stood the test of time, his essays continue to influence writers nearly five hundred years later.

Also included in this complete edition of his works are Montaigne’s letters and his travel journal, fascinating records of the experiences and contemplations that would shape and infuse his essays. Montaigne speaks to us always in a personal voice in which his virtues of tolerance, moderation, and understanding are dazzlingly manifest.

Donald M. Frame’s masterful translation is widely acknowledged to be the classic English version.

Customer Reviews:

Retired, seeking distance to a world of bloody fights ..........2005-08-28

"My library is in the third story of a tower; on the first is my chapel, on the second a bedroom with ante-chambers, where I often lie to be alone; and above it there is a great wardrobe. Adjoining my library is a very neat little room, in which a fire can be laid in winter, and which is pleasantly lighted by a window..." Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592) wrote in the chapter "On Three Kinds of Relationships". Montaigne liked being retired, seeking distance to a world of bloody fights between religious groups. Did these things develop, 400 years later? Montaigne tried to escape dogmatic thoughts finding a new way of writing and hammering out thoughts via his typical relaxed method of writing. Living 200 years earlier than the other genius of essay, the poor Soeren Kierkegaard, Montaigne was not as filled up with anxiety as the Danish philosopher - he instead managed to stay calm with a solid resource of optimism, though things outside his favorite tower often run very worse. His courageous goal was the overcoming of the stereotyped medieval conception of the world, in which humans usually had been overwhelmed by church- or government-authorities like puppets on a string. Montaigne established the departure to individual noticing, founded an anthropocentric view of world. This probably had something fresh to his contemporary readers. Montaignes program was to dip down in ones own mind: "Everyone, who is listening to his inner landscape of thoughts, is able to discover his identity, so that he is able to repel everything, which does not fit this." About his style of writing essayist Elias Canetti noticed: "Montaigne is most beautiful, because he does not hurry." Aged 17 Michel de Montaigne had ridden to Paris, to complete his humanistic education. There he had attached important relations, had operated with prostitutes notoriously and had squandered one the family wealth, until the father pulled the emergency brake and called him back to Bordeaux, where he had to begin a boring job at the local court (if we can trust the speculations of the French biographer Lacouture). Historically more secured is Montaigne's political identity: the France of his time had torn up, the faith splitting escalated in the "St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre" in Paris on 24 August 1572, bloody amuck in many other French cities followed, also in Montaigne's Bordeaux. He had been the mayor, and particularly in the second term of office 1583-85, he skillfully succeeded to calm down the parties (Catholics tried to slaughter the Protestant Huguenots). His "ideology-free" position had been developed in expanded studies of the classical philosophers - and in a thereupon diametrically opposite literary attempt to justify an own individual kind of thinking and writing: precisely analyzing human conditions (using oneself as the only field, we can explore without too much strange mistakes) without being paralyzed by social regulations of how to search and communicate. "I do not proclaim doctrines of faith, but not obligatory opinions, which you can classify as a gesture alike children, trying to show their experiments: they only want to learn, not to instruct or indoctrinate." The skeptical, further-asking, essentially open dialogue of Montaigne influenced such thinkers as Diderot, Lichtenberg or Nietzsche. His writing method encouraged philosophy, psychology - and hundreds of essayists. Indeed we hope, that Montaigne's voice will never get lost ...

Retired, seeking distance to a world of bloody fights ..........2005-08-28

"My library is in the third story of a tower; on the first is my chapel, on the second a bedroom with ante-chambers, where I often lie to be alone; and above it there is a great wardrobe. Adjoining my library is a very neat little room, in which a fire can be laid in winter, and which is pleasantly lighted by a window..." Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592) wrote in the chapter "On Three Kinds of Relationships". Montaigne liked being retired, seeking distance to a world of bloody fights between religious groups. Did these things develop, 400 years later? Montaigne tried to escape dogmatic thoughts finding a new way of writing and hammering out thoughts via his typical relaxed method of writing. Living 200 years earlier than the other genius of essay, the poor Soeren Kierkegaard, Montaigne was not as filled up with anxiety as the Danish philosopher - he instead managed to stay calm with a solid resource of optimism, though things outside his favorite tower often run very worse. His courageous goal was the overcoming of the stereotyped medieval conception of the world, in which humans usually had been overwhelmed by church- or government-authorities like puppets on a string. Montaigne established the departure to individual noticing, founded an anthropocentric view of world. This probably had something fresh to his contemporary readers. Montaignes program was to dip down in ones own mind: "Everyone, who is listening to his inner landscape of thoughts, is able to discover his identity, so that he is able to repel everything, which does not fit this." About his style of writing essayist Elias Canetti noticed: "Montaigne is most beautiful, because he does not hurry." Aged 17 Michel de Montaigne had ridden to Paris, to complete his humanistic education. There he had attached important relations, had operated with prostitutes notoriously and had squandered one the family wealth, until the father pulled the emergency brake and called him back to Bordeaux, where he had to begin a boring job at the local court (if we can trust the speculations of the French biographer Lacouture). Historically more secured is Montaigne's political identity: the France of his time had torn up, the faith splitting escalated in the "St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre" in Paris on 24 August 1572, bloody amuck in many other French cities followed, also in Montaigne's Bordeaux. He had been the mayor, and particularly in the second term of office 1583-85, he skillfully succeeded to calm down the parties (Catholics tried to slaughter the Protestant Huguenots). His "ideology-free" position had been developed in expanded studies of the classical philosophers - and in a thereupon diametrically opposite literary attempt to justify an own individual kind of thinking and writing: precisely analyzing human conditions (using oneself as the only field, we can explore without too much strange mistakes) without being paralyzed by social regulations of how to search and communicate. "I do not proclaim doctrines of faith, but not obligatory opinions, which you can classify as a gesture alike children, trying to show their experiments: they only want to learn, not to instruct or indoctrinate." The skeptical, further-asking, essentially open dialogue of Montaigne influenced such thinkers as Diderot, Lichtenberg or Nietzsche. His writing method encouraged philosophy, psychology - and hundreds of essayists. Indeed we hope, that Montaigne's voice will never get lost ...

Servant of the Humane.......2004-10-17

Montaigne was one of those paradoxical characters who was both utterly lazy and completely devoted. His essays are like he is. Lazy, glad (but not too glad), and content to let the blasted world roll by with all of its absurdities and madnesses. Yet he is also taut and tense, intellectually stimulated and willing to stimulate.
Montaigne was wise because he was one of those rare characters who accepted his own humanity without the need to curse at it, exalt it, make it seem ordinary, and make it seem simple. I almost wrote that he made complexity look simple; he almost made it look easy. He did that by have interests that were as broad as that most capacious of faces - the face of the universe. But add to that Montaigne's central conviction that in the sight of God all things are small and you begin to get at the unobtrsively strange and humane part of his art. He combines (in his interests) things that are profoundly trivial and things that are profoundly - ah - profound.
Montainge has been described as a cheerful sceptic and no few harsh and ecstatic souls have been outraged by such a combination. But his cheer was based on the fact that he was both a sceptic and a man of faith - a man of faith before this dreadful age (the age we live in) settled in with its grand bifurcation between the assertive intellect born in the Renaissance was left to battle the pseudo-faith of the fundamentalist Christians. Montaigne would have been politely bewildered to have to speak to either Karl Marx or Jerry Falwell. They would have seemed both absurd and absurdly deranged to him. He was too balanced.
He was and remains a great corrective to our mystical tendencies. He does not cancel them out but he does smack them in the teethe and put them into order. He despised that perennial human desire to destroy humanity in the name of a state higher than humanity.

Complete -- at last!.......2003-10-16

Donald Frame's translations of Montaigne's essays have long been considered one of the two finest contemporary translations available, M.A. Screech's excellent version being the other.

The essays speak for themselves, or at least should. Their popularity is well known and well deserved, and there are a number of fine essay collections available. What's great about this edition is that included with the classic essays are a few extant letters and Montaigne's travel journals, which were lost until almost two hundred years after his death. These additional pieces are not going to rival the essays in popularity -- the letters are few and formal, for instance -- but if you enjoy the mind of Montaigne you'll enjoy these extra inclusions.

Between June of 1580 and December of 1581, Montaigne -- with four other nobles and a variety of servants -- traveled through France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy before returning to Bordeaux. In the journals you'll find more evidence of the author's deeply interested view of the world around him, set out in that seemingly (and charmingly) haphazard, humane style found in spades in the essays.

In one entry, for instance, you'll find him retelling (with a straight face?) a local story he has heard of a young girl who jumped up and down so strenuously during play that she turned into a boy (Montaigne claims that at least a few locals back up this tale); in other entries you'll find him more down to earth, describing, for instance, the little stoves in the homes of Germany, or the tiles that lined some of the homes in what is now Switzerland, or the murals on the walls of Jeanne D'Arc's father's home.

By 1581, when Montaigne visited Rome, the treasures of the Vatican had become a mandatory stop on any well-informed traveller's itinerary. To his delight, Montaigne was shown ancient Roman and ancient Chinese manuscripts, the love letters of Henry VIII, and the classics of history and philosophy. Then, as now, the Vatican Library was one of the greatest in the Western world.

This journal is an interesting view of 16th-century Europe (the architecture, the topography, the manners and customs) through a master stylist's eyes. It's nice to have back in print an edition of Montaigne's complete works, especially since it uses Donald Frame's translations.

A wonderful, complete collection.......2003-08-17

The late Donald Frame's translation is, as Harold Bloom credits, superb. Add to it the quality and aesthetics of the Everyman's series and this is an unbeatable edition of Montaigne's works. I plan to buy several copies of this edition as gifts.

Michel de Montaigne - The Complete Essays (Penguin Classics)

Average customer rating:

Belongs In Everyone's Library: The Perfect Essays
Essays
Brilliant translation, but the editing is annoying.
The definitive philosopher
One of the world's great comforts

Michel de Montaigne - The Complete Essays (Penguin Classics)
Michel de Montaigne
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

History & Surveys | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Modern Renaissance | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

French | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Nonfiction | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Gargantua and Pantagruel
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini (Penguin Classics)
The Book of the Courtier (Dover Value Editions)
The Heptameron (Penguin Classics)
Gargantua and Pantagruel (Penguin Classics)

ASIN: 0140446044

Customer Reviews:

Belongs In Everyone's Library: The Perfect Essays.......2007-03-13

What's not to like about Montaigne? Everytime I pick through parts of his essays [and it does not matter where one begins] I find myself in deep thought. Sometimes I feel as if Montaigne were speaking to me. I have the Donald Frame translation. Although I have read the Cohen translation too, and I do have a copy of it somewhere in this jungle I call my library. I have just recently purchased this Penguin edition, with another yet another translation. But no matter, the words and wit of Montaigne are, and will be as timeless as long as people are willing to open these pages and gather meaning from them. And I will always continue to do so.

These essays were meant to be read and re-read. And you know, I never tire of reading Michel de Montaigne. This mans works have been a part of my life for as long as I can recall. And how many times can you remember picking up the same books over and over again to reach words of wisdom? And Montaigne's humble wisdom and honest look at himself is what makes these essays so profound and enjoyable to read. Why? Because he took a long hard look deep into his own soul and wrote for himself, and to himself: And in turn, he imparted these essays to the rest of us. Which I am forever grateful to him for. If you have never read Montaigne, it's time you do. Highly recommended. Should be required reading in all schools today.

Essays.......2006-03-15

Montaigne. He has lessons for us all, I've found.

Some of the lessons are hard. He writes about everything, but most of all, he writes about himself. There is a painful clarity to his work - but that cliche term does nothing to properly explain what it is he accomplishes with his writing.

At thirty-three, Montaigne decided to retire to his home and write. He had vague ideas about writing a gentleman's book on warfare, and the first few essays reflect that. But, as he progressed, he kept going on little side journeys into his own thoughts and opinions. At first, Montaigne reigned himself in, struggling to stay true to the path he had decided for himself.

Happily for us, he failed.

He abandoned the idea of writing for gentlemen - though there are still slight evidences of this throughout the work. Instead, he decided to focus on the one thing he knew better than anybody else in the entire world - Montaigne. Who else could know more, or would bother to take as much time exploring this one man than the man himself? And why not explore his own mind - every day, he has to live and deal with the advantages and disadvantages, the habits and the thoughts, the opinions and the ironies of being Montaigne. Thus, he decided, it was worth exploring. In his view, there was nothing more important than understanding one's self. If you cannot understand yourself, how can you expect to understand anybody else?

There are moments of 'painful clarity', as I said above. Montaigne discusses (his) impotence, his imperfect marriage, the disappointments he has created in others, the times when he did not do what he should. But he also talks about how he can make himself a better person, and how, in a lot of ways, he is an admirable person. It is important to realise that Montaigne is not writing an apology for himself. He is putting himself on to paper, 'warts and all', and declaring it true. There is a point in one of the essays where he declares that he wouldn't want anyone to lie about the person he is, even if they flattered him or praised him. This is, in a nutshell, Montaigne's thinking. He is not concerned with being the greatest person ever known - he is concerned with understanding himself.

Four hundred years on, what is there to offer us, the modern reader, in Montaigne? An infinity of wisdom. Could I, in honesty, completely and unwaveringly disect myself for the consumption of both myself and others? I don't think so. I very much fear that the answer is no. And yet - why not? Is it shame? I don't think so, as I have nothing major to hide. Perhaps, then, it is simply the fear of unrealised ideas and thoughts. If I am unaware of myself, I cannot present it. Montaigne was and is aware of himself and thus manages to accurately describe the person that he is.

Montaigne's essays are invaluable not only for the man that they portray, but for the wisdom in what is spoken. Montaigne has thought about so many aspects of what it is to be a human and alive, and we can all learn from this. The topics he discusses go beyond mere 16th century issues, and deal with concepts, ideas and concerns that affect us now, and will affect us always. Absolutely essential reading.

Brilliant translation, but the editing is annoying........2006-01-20

This English translation of Montaigne's Complete Essays is wonderful. Although I like it better than Donald Frame's version, I actually prefer J.M. Cohen's to either. Cohen's translation is only a selection, unfortunately. If you need the Complete Essays, go with Screech.

Screech's version, however, has a very annoying problem. As in Frame's translation, letters are used within the text to note differences between the three major editions of the Essays (A, B, C). Frame's version uses small capital letters inserted within the text; they are unobtrusive and can be ignored. Screech's version, however, uses full-sized letters within brackets with a lot of space surrounding them. They are just too darned disruptive. Why in the heck did they do this? Perhaps they intended it for academic or scholarly use. It's a shame. I hope that Penguin will issue a new edition or revision that will take care of this problem.

Use the "Look Inside" feature of this book to decide for yourself.

The definitive philosopher.......2005-11-29

In the entire history of western philosophy, there is not one person I can praise more than Michel de Montaigne. Normally, any book over 500 pages tends to become tedious to me, and works of philosophy over that length become insufferable. The best praise I can give this book is to say that at 1200 pages, I was not the least weary of it. In fact, I wished it was longer! Montaigne is the definitive philosopher, a man driven to write out of boredom, who presents his essays as his views, never trying to categorize and name realities, but simply marvelling over everything, from literature to pets. His broad learning and wonderfully disorganized style lead the reader on a journey into the what ifs, and whys of existence. Montaigne is the epitome of a renaissance man. His views in most situations are more modern than yesterday. He speaks out for the virtues of women, carefully denounces war, subtly questions the more extraneous doctrines of Catholicism, and even denounces colonialism and promotes respect of racial and cultural differences. This is not a man one would have expected to find in the 1500s. But here he is. And his text! Often saying that his memory was weak, MOntaigne demonstrates it by going off on wild tangents for thirty pages, only to realize that he has succeeding in proving his original idea without his knowledge. His sentences and rich prose leap across the pages, and dance with ideas of the sublime and the ridiculous, ideas which he does not so much attempt to resolve as ponder upon a page. He never once falls into the philosopher's folly of stating his views as though they were fact, and is often very careful to say, "This is what I think" in one way or another. He never attempts to convince the reader, for he originally never intended his essays to have a reader. In situations where he would challenge authority, he is always careful to say, for instance, "But my own views are nothing, the church of course knows better". More than any other work of philosophy, the Essays are an adventure, leading one through the soul of a man, a man who thought so little of himself but was so great. It reads almost as a novel, and at the end, after 1200 pages of Essays, Montaigne stands before the reader as clearly as any historical or fictional figure ever has. This is the true Magnum Opus of western philosophy.

One of the world's great comforts.......2005-11-29

I cannot praise this book highly enough. It is one of those rare books that can change your life. Sure, many people say something similar about a particular book, but it is genuinely true in this instance. Montaigne is wise, humane, and very humourous. If I had to live on an island and could only take three books with me, this would be one of them. And, it would be an easy choice to make. I have read the Essays cover to cover twice already and plan to do so again many times in my life.

Here are some general points you might want to keep in mind when reading Montaigne's Essays: First, he doesn't always stick to the topic announced at the beginning of an essay. Sometimes, an essay appears to be about a particular topic but ends up being about something else entirely. Second, even when Montainge makes a half-hearted attempt at staying on topic, the journey is still the scenic route instead of a straight shot (but, this is half the fun of his Essays). Third, Montaigne's Essays are a perfect crash course on the wisdom to be found in the writings of the Latin authors. Finally, Montaigne is surprisingly skeptical and relativistic on many issues. This is obviously why his Essays are so relevant even today.

Now for a word on translations. The two primary translations that are easily available are this Penguin edition translated by Screech and the Stanford University Press edition translated by Frame. Each edition has its advantages and disadvantages, and it's a shame the editions can't be combined to create the perfect translation.

The Penguin/Screech edition includes the original and a translation of all Montaigne's foreign language quotations. The vast majority of these are in Latin; so, if you know some Latin, this is helpful. It also includes very helpful notes on obscure literary and historical issues, which provides for greater understanding. However, if you read the introduction and Screech's notes carefully, you will realize he does have an agenda. Screech plays down Montaigne's skepticism and tries to portray Montaigne as being more religious than he was.

As to the Stanford/Frame edition, its translation is much closer to the original French than Screech's. If you put the French text and Frame's translation side by side, you'll see what I mean (even if your French is pretty weak like mine). And, Frame does not play down Montaigne's skepticism - he lets Montaigne speak for himself. But, Frame's translation does have some flaws. It does not include the original for foreign language quotations. And, when Frame translates Latin poetry, he almost always makes it rhyme even when the original Latin does not rhyme. I find this jarring and not true to the original. Frame also does not include any helpful notes.

All in all, I'd like to combine Frame's translation of Montaigne's French with Screech's original and translation of all foreign language quotations. This would be the best possible version of the Essays.

This book is one of the finest products of the human mind. You will not regret the significant amount of time it will take to read these Essays. And, if you read them carefully, you'll never look at the world the same way again.

An Apology for Raymond Sebond (Penguin Classics)

Average customer rating:

Anything But ... The Apology for Raymond Sebond
An old guide to religion, nature, and classical philosophy.

An Apology for Raymond Sebond (Penguin Classics)
Michel de Montaigne
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History, 17th & 18th Century | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Modern Renaissance | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Religious | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

French | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Nonfiction | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources
Philosophical Writings: A Selection
On Kant, Revised Edition (Wadsworth Philosophers Series)
On the Dignity of Man: On Being and the One : Heptaplus (Hackett Classics)
On Descartes (Wadsworth Philosophers Series)

ASIN: 0140444939

Book Description

Under the pretense of defending an obscure treatise by a Catalan theologian, Montaigne attacks the philosophers who attempt rational explanations of the universe and argues for a skeptical Christianity based squarely on faith rather than reason. The result is the Apology for Raymond Sebond, a classic of Counter-Reformation thought and a masterpiece of Renaissance literature.

This new translation by Roger Ariew and Marjorie Grene achieves both accuracy and fluency, conveying at once the nuances of Montaigne's arguments and his distinctive literary style.

Customer Reviews:

Anything But ... The Apology for Raymond Sebond.......2005-11-03

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) was never famous for staying on topic. The titles of his essays, and this book is his longest essay, are pretexts for writing about what interested him at the time. If you don't know any more about Raymond Sebond after reading this essay than you did before, don't worry about it! If you gave it a slow, thoughtful read, you have experienced one of the greatest minds in all of history asking what was the value of man's mind to arrive at the truth.

The answer could be expressed as the saying for which Montaigne is most famous: "Que scais-je?" or "What do I know?" Reason may be what separates man from the animals, but what benefit has man derived from it? Is he any happier for it? Is he any closer to the ultimate truth?

As one who has loved the _Essaies_ (French for "attempts") for many years, my advice to readers is to take them a little at a time. Don't be put off by all the quotes from Classical Antiquity. This was, after all, the Renaissance; and Montaigne was, like many of his contemporaries, delighted to see reflections of his thoughts in the writings of the Greeks and Romans. (Rabelais in _Gargantua and Pantagruel_ did the same thing.) Many of those quotes are interesting enough to make we want to follow up on Lucretius, Cicero, Marcus Manilius, and others whose names predominate through the essay.

Montaigne had the motto "Que scais-je?" inscribed on the walls of the tower on his property. He was the ultimate skeptic, but (forgive the pun) he essayed to explain his thoughts more thoroughly, perhaps, than any man who ever lived. I heartily suggest you read this, and follow it up with a reading of his greatest essay, "Of Experience."

An old guide to religion, nature, and classical philosophy........2002-05-19

The Apology which Montaigne wrote for the work of Raymond Sebond arose from his understanding of a book, Theologia Naturalis, written in an obscure form of Spanish, which Montaigne's father ("in the `last days' of his life") requested that Montaigne translate into French for the benefit of those who were engaged in the struggles of the Reformation, "a period of intellectual ferment and of religious and political disarray." (p. ix). Montaigne finished and dedicated his translation on the day of his father's death, 18 June 1568, when Montaigne was 35, married, and engaged in a legal position. The Apology does not identify which of its ideas were original with Sebond. There is no index, so I am unsure of how often the name Sebond appears in the text The Introduction on pages ix to xxxiii explains the circumstances and theology of the book philosophically, as understood at All Souls College, Oxford, on Easter 1986. The dedication and "Montaigne's translation and adaptation of the Prologus of Raymond Sebond" appear on pages xl to xliv. Those who have a complete edition of the ESSAYS OF MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE should be able to find the material in this book at II:12, though this book is clear in which portions appeared in 1580, 1582, 1588, or from the "text of the manuscript edition being prepared by Montaigne when he died, interpreted in the light of the posthumous editions." (p. xxxv).

On the doom or dumber question, we can find, "Philosophy in general agrees that there is an ultimate remedy to be prescribed for every kind of trouble: namely, ending our life if we find it intolerable." (p. 62). This is associated with, "As the Greeks said at their banquets: `Let him drink or be off! (Aut bibat, aut abeat!')~That is particularly apt if your pronounce Cicero's language like a Gascon, changing your `B's to `V's: Aut vivat ~ Let him live . . ." (p. 62). The long latin poems are provided with English translations in brackets, so it is possible to understand that a poem by Cicero ends with him worrying "lest you start to drink too much and find that pretty girls laugh at you and push you away." (pp. 62-3). This might be typical of philosophy, but Montaigne is capable of grasping more difficult situations. On learning, this work declares, "even our system of Law, they say, bases the truth of its justice upon legal fictions. Learning pays us in the coin of suppositions which she confesses she has invented herself." (p. 111). Civilization might be based on a belief that law is a better solution than suicide for every kind of trouble, but a lot of news is about people who have opted for some form of suicide or something worse. Our appreciation of knowledge about these things might be so small that this book will only appeal to those who might find it entertaining. People who can look back on life and realize that some of the best jokes that they ever heard were in latin ought to try reading this book, too.

Montaigne
Average customer rating:
Montaigne
Hugo Friedrich
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
General | Criticism & Theory | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Movements & Periods | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Arthurian Romance | Beat Generation | General | Gothic Revival | Medieval | Modernism | Postmodernism | Renaissance | Romanticism | Surrealism | Victorian
European | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Cambridge Companion to Montaigne (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

The Complete Works (Everyman's Library)

Essays (Penguin Classics)

Emerson: The Mind on Fire (Centennial Books)

Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind

ASIN: 0520072537

The Autobiography of Michel De Montaigne (Nonpareil Books)
Average customer rating:

Excellent Book with an Impossible Task

NOT an autobiography

The Autobiography of Michel De Montaigne (Nonpareil Books)
Lowenthal arvin , and Marvin Lowenthal
Manufacturer: David R Godine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Apology for Raymond Sebond

ASIN: 1567920985

Product Description

Everyone acknowledges the Essays of Michel de Montaigne as one of the glories of civilized thought. But in this volume, Marvin Lowenthal has drawn from his letters, essays, travel writings, and manuscripts to create a biography of his life told in his own words, thereby fulfilling Montaigne s intention of presenting his self-portrait to the world. For it was Montaigne who wrote, My book and I are one, and into his writing he poured the amazing varieties of his perceptions, his unflinching powers of observation and analysis, and his deeply felt love of humanity in all its messy contrariness. Above his desk, on a beam on his ceiling, were inscribed the words nihil humani alieni mihi puto : nothing human is alien to me and nothing was, for into his writing he distilled his tender heart and biting wit, his nonsense and wisdom, his passions and his hates. By collecting and arranging these autobiographical passages into a unified whole, Lowenthal has framed a complete portrait in this rich and rewarding book. All of Montaigne is here: his adventures and love affairs, his marriage, travels, tastes, and opinions. Seldom has so much wit, wisdom, and pure entertainment been packed into a single volume.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book with an Impossible Task.......2001-05-04

This is an excellent book, so long as you understand what you are dealing with. While it is true that Montaigne did not write an autobiography (indeed this would have been unusual to say the least) he was most careful about his writing--for example he would not erase any passages or writings. Therefore, Montaigne's writings are a wealth of information about a man, and when put together carefully provide a good portrait of the man. Perhaps not technically an autobiography, nevertheless I think that Montaigne would have appreciated Lowenthal's effort.

NOT an autobiography.......2001-04-02

Do not be misled. This is NOT Montaigne's autobiography. Montaigne did not write an autobiography. (Who did, before Rousseau, 200 years later? Besides St. Agustuine.) This book (originally published in 1935) is a cut-and-paste collection of passages from the "Essays," and from M's letters and diaries, notes, and journals, arranged AS IF constituting a deliberately composed autobiography. ("Aided by scissors, paste, and patience, I have let him retell his life story," the editor says.) Useful, I suppose, in getting some sense of the order of events in M's life. On the other hand, the book is not annotated, so you have no idea where any particular passage might have come from. Consequently, irritating, if you care anything about the original form and literary purpose of what Montaigne actually wrote.

The Essays: A Selection (Penguin Classics)

Average customer rating:

Five Stars for Montaigne, One for Screech
Wherever we read we meet the man
Pleasurable read

The Essays: A Selection (Penguin Classics)
Michel de Montaigne
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

History & Surveys | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

French | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Nonfiction | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Prince (Bantam Classics)
The Heptameron (Penguin Classics)
Pensees (Penguin Classics)
Eighteenth Century Europe: Tradition and Progress, 1715-1789 (Norton History of Modern Europe)
The Age of Religious Wars, 1559-1715 (Norton History of Modern Europe)

ASIN: 0140446028

Customer Reviews:

Five Stars for Montaigne, One for Screech.......2005-12-17

Over the years I have kept a copy of the Essays by my favorite reading chair to be enjoyed at random, particularly in the middle of the night when Entropy seems to hold the upper hand. They exercise a remarkable calming effect.

Seduced by the idea of having a complete set of all the Essays, I initially opted for the complete Screech translation, but found it wooden and pedantic. I moved to the Cohen translation, which does not include all of the Essays, but has all of the major ones and is far more enjoyable.

Wherever we read we meet the man .......2005-10-27

Montaigne goes on his adventures of mind, and explores worlds seemingly far from his own , and yet always somehow leads us back to himself. His digressions and his ramblings in thought mark a new stage of discovery in the human mind's quest to know and understand itself. Like his great contemporary Shakespeare he belongs to an old world dying, and a new world not yet quite born which he in straddling makes anew.
Whatever the subject he opens up for those who come after a new way of thinking and exploring.

Pleasurable read.......2000-06-22

Montaigne was neither master of Science or Art, nor was he accomplished in Religeon or Politics in such a way as to be renowned through the ages. Though hardly a commoner by class, and well educated, he was essentially Joe Blow 16th century, writing not for Academic applause or controversy, but because it gave him pleasure and release (his works were, however, well received by many all over Europe). He was a philosopher as Schopenhauer defined it: examining the world around him as he saw it and defining it in relation to himself and how he acts within it, not preaching unattainable fancies that he does not live himself. Unwittingly (perhaps) Existential, this book shows that human nature is not what changes throughout the centuries - Montaignes observations of the world not being as alien as one would think 400 years ago plus would be. This book is an insight to the mind and world of a man in the renaissance, not a renaissance man. Well worth the read.

Average customer rating:

The birth of the modern--for the human in all of us
Physics major likes this book
Wanting to show us his experiments, not indoctrinating ...
"A Great Anthology of Montaigne's Essays"
The Original French Essayist

The Complete Essays of Montaigne
Michel Eyquem Montaigne
Manufacturer: Stanford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Modern Renaissance | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings
The Renaissance Philosophy Of Man: Petrarca, Valla, Ficino, Pico, Pomponazzi, Vives
Francis Bacon: The New Organon (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy)
Pensees (Penguin Classics)
Three Treatises

ASIN: 0804704864

Customer Reviews:

The birth of the modern--for the human in all of us.......2007-08-24

Michel de Montaigne was and is a very special benchmark in the history of Western civilization. He was not the first diarist or journalist with whom brooding souls throughout history have kept company--Marcus Aurelius, Seneca the Younger, St. Augustine, and others preceded him in that regard--but he was, perhaps, one of the first to do so with such scathing honesty, such hands-in-the-air bewilderment, humbling admissions of ignorance, and a deep, abiding compassion for humanity. He lived amid the birth pangs of a Europe on the cusp of modernity, and felt its political, philosophical, religious, cultural, and emotional tensions with every fiber of his being. One senses he knew that the only way to deal with the impending seismic shift was to ask anew the timeless questions of "who am I?" and "what do I know?" without any of the traditional sets of training wheels or safety nets. Not the Church, not the state, not tradition, not custom, not even common sense--everything deserved to be examined afresh. He manages to do so in a way that is far from the arid formalism of Descartes or the tendentious and smug skepticism of Hume; reading his essays is like a set of spiritual exercises. His erudition is profound, his observations keenly insightful, and his boundless curiousity wonderful to get lost in. The "Apology for Raymond Sebonde" is worth the price of the book alone. Everyone from Shakespeare to Ralph Waldo Emerson has had the man from Bordeaux on his or her nightstand, and for a timeless treat, you should as well.

Physics major likes this book.......2007-03-27

I'm a physics major and I had to use this for an honors English class. It was pretty inspiring to know that strange, yet profound thoughts in essay form can be appreciated.

Wanting to show us his experiments, not indoctrinating ..........2005-08-28

Montaigne liked being retired, seeking distance to a world of bloody fights between religious groups. Did these things develop, 400 years later? Montaigne tried to escape dogmatic thoughts finding a new way of hammering out thoughts via his typical relaxed method of writing. Living 200 years earlier than the other genius of essay, the poor Soeren Kierkegaard, Montaigne was not as filled up with anxiety as the Danish philosopher - he instead managed to stay calm with a solid resource of optimism, though things outside his favorite tower often run very worse.

His courageous goal was the overcoming of the stereotyped medieval conception of the world, in which humans usually had been overwhelmed by church- or government-authorities like puppets on a string. Montaigne established the departure to individual noticing, founded an anthropocentric view of world. This probably had something fresh to his contemporary readers.

Montaignes program was to dip down in ones own mind: "Everyone, who is listening to his inner landscape of thoughts, is able to discover his identity, so that he is able to repel everything, which does not fit this." About his style of writing essayist Elias Canetti noticed: "Montaigne is most beautiful, because he does not hurry."

Aged 17 Michel de Montaigne had ridden to Paris, to complete his humanistic education. There he had attached important relations, had operated with prostitutes notoriously and had squandered the family wealth, until the father pulled the emergency brake and called him back to Bordeaux, where he had to begin a boring job at the local court (if we can trust the speculations of the French biographer Lacouture).

Historically more secured is Montaigne's political identity: the France of his time had torn up, the faith splitting escalated in the "St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre" in Paris on 24 August 1572, bloody amuck in many other French cities followed, also in Montaigne's Bordeaux. He had been the mayor, and particularly in the second term of office 1583-85, he skillfully succeeded to calm down the parties (Catholics tried to slaughter the Protestant Huguenots).

His "ideology-free" position had been developed in expanded studies of the classical philosophers - and in a thereupon diametrically opposite literary attempt to justify an own individual kind of thinking and writing: precisely analyzing human conditions (using oneself as the only field, one can explore without too much strange mistakes) without being paralyzed by social regulations of how to search and communicate.

"I do not proclaim doctrines of faith, but not obligatory opinions, which one can classify as a gesture alike done by children, trying to show their experiments: they only want to learn, not to instruct or indoctrinate."

The skeptical, further-asking, essentially open dialogue of Montaigne influenced such thinkers as Diderot, Lichtenberg or Nietzsche. His writing method encouraged philosophy, psychology - and hundreds of essayists. Indeed we hope, that Montaigne's voice will never get lost ...

"A Great Anthology of Montaigne's Essays".......2001-11-09

Montaigne's writings are eloquent, rich in allusions and anecdotes, and above all they sparkle with philosophical insights. Immortal names like Cicero, Homer, Virgil, and Horace are cited on every page, and reveal that the classical world of the past and the humanistic world of the present were very real to him. These essays also display Montaigne's mistrust of systematic philosophy, and show his support of faith and divine revelation over human reason. Montaigne's writings played a considerable role in setting the stage for later philosophers, like Descartes, to establish a new system of knowledge independent of the sense perception. This edition is a faithful translation from the original, and preserves beyond others the pristine clarity of Montaigne's ideas.

The Original French Essayist.......2001-07-27

Some authorities consider Montaigne the first essayist. His writing style is clear and his thought has common sense. Yet he is still encumbered by the classics. The ancients weigh on him like a stone. The celbrated erudition he displays in nearly every essay by quoting classical authors and envoking their names frequently is impressive but also distracting. I know that in expressing this opinion I differ from the majority of Montaigne's readers. But I believe that he had to much reverence for the classics.

Montaigne's Essays and Selected Writings: A Bilingual Edition

Average customer rating:

Montaigne's Essays and Selected Writings: A Bilingual Edition

Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Complete Essays of Montaigne
The Cambridge Companion to Montaigne (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)
The Heptameron (Penguin Classics)
Michel de Montaigne - The Complete Essays (Penguin Classics)
Montaigne: Essays

ASIN: 0312546351

Selections from the Essays of Montaigne (Crofts Classics)

Average customer rating:

A sense of modernity

Selections from the Essays of Montaigne (Crofts Classics)
Michel De Montaigne , and Donald Murdoch Frame
Manufacturer: Harlan Davidson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Essays | Literature & Fiction | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Prince (Bantam Classics)
Selections from the Canzoniere and Other Works
Basic Political Writings
Selected Political Writings
Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained (The Signet Classic Poetry Series)

ASIN: 088295105X

Book Description

This practical, easy-to-use guide provides answers to the most common problems encountered by students in the writing of history research papers. It employs a practical approach beginning with the first task, selecting a topic, and takes the student through how to prepare a bibliography--without becoming bogged down in the nature and philosophy of history. Included are three student exercises designed to improve techniques in locating library resources, using historical criticism, and preparing footnotes.

Customer Reviews:

A sense of modernity.......2005-10-09

Michel de Montaigne is considered by many to be the inventor of the literary form of the essay, so the collection from which these excerpts come is important in several ways. Montaigne was a humanist and a skeptic in his philosophical approach, and essentially looked at his own experience as the first topic for examination always.

The book of Essays was one he worked on periodically throughout his life, issuing different editions, the first of which appeared in 1580. Montaigne's style of writing is sometimes stream-of-consciousness, sometimes structured in more formal styles.

Montaigne's stated task in his preface to the reader is for self-examination, but it becomes very clear that Montaigne sees himself as an 'everyman' character. He strives for full-disclosure; indeed, he writes that were he another culture 'which are said to live still in the sweet freedom of nature's first laws', then he might have appeared naked.

The particular essays included here are as follows:

* Of Idleness
* Of the Education of Children
* Folly to Measure True and False by Our Own Capacity
* Of the Inconsistency of Our Actions
* Apology for Raymond Sebond
* Of Repentance
* Of Husbanding Your Will
* Of Physiognomy
* Of Experience

Montaigne's essays show a pessimism and skepticism, perhaps based on the kinds of conflicts between Catholics and Protestants going on, in France and elsewhere, as well as the periodic flare of plague. He was a humanist who saw cultures as having value internal to themselves and preferred to not universalise morals, laws and other ideas.

Montaigne was sometimes conventional in thought (seeing marriage as necessary for children, and distrusting the idea of romantic love), but other times he was very much a free thinker (particularly when it came to religious dogma or absolutist kinds of philosophical paradigms). Montaigne had respect for those who followed religious codes and ways of life, but distrusted those who tried to impose such ideas upon others.

Montaigne added to his essays twice in major ways, but did not strive for consistency or systematic ways of thinking - he declined to remove previous essays if they contradicted new writings.

Montaigne is perhaps the most important French philosopher prior to the Enlightenment. His essays remain popular because they have a sense of the modern and the current about them.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books