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The Complete Works: Essays, Travel Journal, Letters
Describing his collection of Essays as ‘a book consubstantial with its author’, Montaigne identified both the power and the charm of a work which introduces us to one of the most attractive figures in European literature. A humanist, a sceptic, an acute observer of himself and others, he reflects the great themes of existence through the prism of his own self-consciousness. Apparent in every line he wrote, his virtues of tolerance, moderation and disinterested inquiry amount to an undeclared manifesto for the Enlightenment, whose prophet he is. This complete edition of his works supplements the Essays with travel diaries and letters, thereby completing the portrait of a true Renaissance man.
1336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1592
About the author
Michel de Montaigne
1,637 books1,453 followersMichel Eyquem de Montaigne (1532-1592) was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. Montaigne is known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. He became famous for his effortless ability to merge serious intellectual speculation with casual anecdotes and autobiography—and his massive volume Essais (translated literally as "Attempts") contains, to this day, some of the most widely influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers the world over, from William Shakespeare to René Descartes, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Stephan Zweig, from Friedrich Nietzsche to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He was a conservative and earnest Catholic but, as a result of his anti-dogmatic cast of mind, he is considered the father, alongside his contemporary and intimate friend Étienne de La Boétie, of the "anti-conformist" tradition in French literature.
In his own time, Montaigne was admired more as a statesman then as an author. The tendency in his essays to digress into anecdotes and personal ruminations was seen as detrimental to proper style rather than as an innovation, and his declaration that, "I am myself the matter of my book", was viewed by his contemporaries as self-indulgent. In time, however, Montaigne would be recognized as embodying, perhaps better than any other author of his time, the spirit of freely entertaining doubt which began to emerge at that time. He is most famously known for his skeptical remark, "Que sais-je?" ("What do I know?").
Remarkably modern even to readers today, Montaigne's attempt to examine the world through the lens of the only thing he can depend on implicitly—his own judgment—makes him more accessible to modern readers than any other author of the Renaissance. Much of modern literary nonfiction has found inspiration in Montaigne, and writers of all kinds continue to read him for his masterful balance of intellectual knowledge and personal storytelling.
In his own time, Montaigne was admired more as a statesman then as an author. The tendency in his essays to digress into anecdotes and personal ruminations was seen as detrimental to proper style rather than as an innovation, and his declaration that, "I am myself the matter of my book", was viewed by his contemporaries as self-indulgent. In time, however, Montaigne would be recognized as embodying, perhaps better than any other author of his time, the spirit of freely entertaining doubt which began to emerge at that time. He is most famously known for his skeptical remark, "Que sais-je?" ("What do I know?").
Remarkably modern even to readers today, Montaigne's attempt to examine the world through the lens of the only thing he can depend on implicitly—his own judgment—makes him more accessible to modern readers than any other author of the Renaissance. Much of modern literary nonfiction has found inspiration in Montaigne, and writers of all kinds continue to read him for his masterful balance of intellectual knowledge and personal storytelling.
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May 27, 2023Reading Sarah Bakewell's excellent new Humanly Possible, about the development of humanist thought, has sent me back to reread Montaigne. My first reading was the translation by M.A. Screech on Penguin books, which may be out of print now, but which I highly recommend. This collection of the complete works, translated by Donald H. Frame, includes the essays, the travelogue of Montaigne's journey through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to Italy, and his letters to various correspondents.
from That the taste of good and evil depends in large part on the opinion we have of them
"Men, says an old Greek maxim, are tormented by the opinions they have of things, not by the things themselves. . . . For if evils have no entry into us but by our judgment, it seems to be in our power to disdain them or turn them to good use. . . . If what we call evil and torment is neither evil nor torment in itself, if it is merely our fancy that gives it this quality, it is in us to change it." (p. 39)
"Epicurus says that being rich is not an alleviation, but a change, of troubles. In truth, it is not want, but rather abundance, that breeds avarice." (p. 51)
from That the taste of good and evil depends in large part on the opinion we have of them
"Men, says an old Greek maxim, are tormented by the opinions they have of things, not by the things themselves. . . . For if evils have no entry into us but by our judgment, it seems to be in our power to disdain them or turn them to good use. . . . If what we call evil and torment is neither evil nor torment in itself, if it is merely our fancy that gives it this quality, it is in us to change it." (p. 39)
"Epicurus says that being rich is not an alleviation, but a change, of troubles. In truth, it is not want, but rather abundance, that breeds avarice." (p. 51)
February 12, 2012
For me the greatest approbation for a book I've just read is a simple declaration that this is a book I'll read again, and perhaps one that I'll read regularly. This is a desert island work for sure. It (for me) fits into the same mental shelf space as Aurelius Marcus' Meditations or Herodotus' The Histories or Adams' The Education of Henry Adams. Some pieces of nonfiction should probably be considered a type of humanist sacred-text. One more book I've got to grab if the house is on fire. One more book I will forever be buying extra copies of so I can fop them off on unprepared friends.
August 6, 2023
I don’t have any favourites, just a glowing sensation when I think of Mr Montaigne alone in his study, retired to his nice estate on sufficient funds to allow him to live a life of reading and writing. I also imagine him mincing with complete joy on his hard 16thC timber chair. And he’s right to, because he lived what he thought the best life possible. He died of quinsy, which I read is bad form of tonsillitis for all age groups that likely involved some rupture and subsequent complications. A complication of living in the 16thC, along with the religious wars and the very efficient way the French Church-state had of quashing protestants. No one really matched them at that. We should be glad Montaigne somehow negotiated his way through that because a dead Montaigne in a ditch (or up in flames) would serve no use to us, especially since it would’ve happened before he wrote his essays. We should be glad he was a survivor type, not an activist type.
Without him, we may have had a delay in the kind of expansive humanist thinking that gave us essays like “Of the Uncertainty of Our Judgment.” A tolerance that we take for granted today. Try waving a relativist argument to a religious persecutor by quoting Homer from the opening line:
Wide is the range of words, one side and the other.
Michel has his own words too on this subject having taken us through the roundabout discussion using various other classical references of which he has plenty. We come to this:
It is dangerous to attack a man who you have deprived of every other means of escape but that of weapons, for necessity is a violent schoolmistress…
What I like about this essay is the way the very heart of it – our uncertain judgement –with its far reaching flexible possibilities for discussion and self-reflection - has been encased in a discussion about the judgements required by ancient military leaders from Caesar to Scipio. Such masking is both necessary and clever within the absolutist ideas enveloping the author. Montaigne’s tolerant approach is helped by the classics. If scrutinised, he could always defend his thinking by claiming that he was only pondering the merits of military decisions made centuries ago. I’m reminded how often books set in historical times (to reflect the tyranny or dysfunction of the present age) escape the censors because such narrow minded functionaries are undoubtedly humourless, unread, literalists.
In the essay “Of Three Kinds of Association” we find this:
It is existing, but not living, to keep ourselves bound and obliged by necessity to a single course.
Such an idea has so many ways of applying to how one lives their life. But I can’t help thinking the intolerances of Montaigne’s age drove him to find ways to explore the possibilities of what it is to be human and how to survive in order to continue to have those thoughts.
Life is an uneven, irregular and multiform movement. We are not friends to ourselves, and still less masters, we are slaves, if we follow ourselves incessantly and are so caught up in our inclinations that we cannot depart from them or twist them about.
Of course we can read this different ways. One way is to see it as a personal guide to our own failings and weaknesses that illuminates where our actions lead us, especially when we do not review the path we are on, and the harm it poses to us. How many of us realise too late that we are on a destructive path or when the consequences of our actions are difficult to manage or futile? Montaigne serves us all, by questioning the basis of our poor decisions (in our inflexibility). Yet I always feel excused for the worse of myself; he’s very forgiving. These essays serve as a guide to our psychology and failings, putting us on an improved path. On the other hand, they put a lens on tyranny of the times he lived in (and possibly our own).
I probably cheated. It’s possible I didn’t read all of Montaigne’s complete works over the decade I’ve had the book. Reading Montaigne started with the old Penguin black classics selection that I've owned since, well, since I probably picked it up at the flea market where I got all my books when a teenager. (We call them trash and treasure markets at this latitude south of the equator, but I realise most of my GR friends are further north, summer in my winter and that sort of thing). I dipped into that book. Let’s say I read most of them over time.
Without him, we may have had a delay in the kind of expansive humanist thinking that gave us essays like “Of the Uncertainty of Our Judgment.” A tolerance that we take for granted today. Try waving a relativist argument to a religious persecutor by quoting Homer from the opening line:
Wide is the range of words, one side and the other.
Michel has his own words too on this subject having taken us through the roundabout discussion using various other classical references of which he has plenty. We come to this:
It is dangerous to attack a man who you have deprived of every other means of escape but that of weapons, for necessity is a violent schoolmistress…
What I like about this essay is the way the very heart of it – our uncertain judgement –with its far reaching flexible possibilities for discussion and self-reflection - has been encased in a discussion about the judgements required by ancient military leaders from Caesar to Scipio. Such masking is both necessary and clever within the absolutist ideas enveloping the author. Montaigne’s tolerant approach is helped by the classics. If scrutinised, he could always defend his thinking by claiming that he was only pondering the merits of military decisions made centuries ago. I’m reminded how often books set in historical times (to reflect the tyranny or dysfunction of the present age) escape the censors because such narrow minded functionaries are undoubtedly humourless, unread, literalists.
In the essay “Of Three Kinds of Association” we find this:
It is existing, but not living, to keep ourselves bound and obliged by necessity to a single course.
Such an idea has so many ways of applying to how one lives their life. But I can’t help thinking the intolerances of Montaigne’s age drove him to find ways to explore the possibilities of what it is to be human and how to survive in order to continue to have those thoughts.
Life is an uneven, irregular and multiform movement. We are not friends to ourselves, and still less masters, we are slaves, if we follow ourselves incessantly and are so caught up in our inclinations that we cannot depart from them or twist them about.
Of course we can read this different ways. One way is to see it as a personal guide to our own failings and weaknesses that illuminates where our actions lead us, especially when we do not review the path we are on, and the harm it poses to us. How many of us realise too late that we are on a destructive path or when the consequences of our actions are difficult to manage or futile? Montaigne serves us all, by questioning the basis of our poor decisions (in our inflexibility). Yet I always feel excused for the worse of myself; he’s very forgiving. These essays serve as a guide to our psychology and failings, putting us on an improved path. On the other hand, they put a lens on tyranny of the times he lived in (and possibly our own).
I probably cheated. It’s possible I didn’t read all of Montaigne’s complete works over the decade I’ve had the book. Reading Montaigne started with the old Penguin black classics selection that I've owned since, well, since I probably picked it up at the flea market where I got all my books when a teenager. (We call them trash and treasure markets at this latitude south of the equator, but I realise most of my GR friends are further north, summer in my winter and that sort of thing). I dipped into that book. Let’s say I read most of them over time.
August 8, 2007
If you haven't read (at least some of ) this, I'm afraid you are a bit of an ignoramus. Montaigne invented the word and the form we know as an 'essay' and his philosophical writings are about everything: kidney stones, religion, reality, melons, knowledge, death, shapely calves. He will shock those of you who are obsessed with the modern world with the piquancy of his observations. Read it!
April 23, 2017
Montaigne is timeless. His essays are the very definition of timeless classics. Though he was more well known as a statesman than an author, his essays laced with personal anecdotes, quotes from Greek classics and offered an every man's perspective to those subjects that have been classically complicated. His subject of interests vary from education of children to smelly people; from solitude to problems with popularity. He isn't being ironic when he calls out noteworthy philosophers. Instead he criticizes his critiques for their ambiguous integrity in recognizing or glossing over statements made by famous philosophers. Montaigne argues that there is an inherent bias attached to the name and the position the person holds in the society.
It is uncanny how Montaigne's words resonate in modern world. He strips humanity of all the frills and deals with the naked vapid stinky pile of goo that we are. Its enthralling to read a classic where the author deftly handle and rebuke the "polite-gestures" as set by the elite society. He makes no apologies for bodily functions or disregard for quaint thought process.
Montaigne has to be part of reading curriculum not just for adults graduating in philosophy but in general. His anecdotes, stories and personal preferences add a touch of humanity that sometimes philosophical texts severely lacks. Reading this at an early age can help putting the world into a perspective. One doesn't need to take themselves so seriously all the time. It is okay to let your hai down and bum on the beach.
But hey, what do I know?
It is uncanny how Montaigne's words resonate in modern world. He strips humanity of all the frills and deals with the naked vapid stinky pile of goo that we are. Its enthralling to read a classic where the author deftly handle and rebuke the "polite-gestures" as set by the elite society. He makes no apologies for bodily functions or disregard for quaint thought process.
Montaigne has to be part of reading curriculum not just for adults graduating in philosophy but in general. His anecdotes, stories and personal preferences add a touch of humanity that sometimes philosophical texts severely lacks. Reading this at an early age can help putting the world into a perspective. One doesn't need to take themselves so seriously all the time. It is okay to let your hai down and bum on the beach.
But hey, what do I know?
November 13, 2021
Obviously one of the great masterpieces our silly species has ever produced.
December 13, 2024
2024: Still the best
2023: Still the best
2022: Still the best
2021: Still the best
2017: The Best
__________
Second time.
I didn't notice anything jarring about Frame's translation except when it came to some memorable quotes for which I preferred Ives' renderings; would definitely recommend, especially in this nice compact Everyman's Library edition. Will try Screech next time.
I skimmed through the Travel Journal and didn't read the letters, although they're nice to have.
__________
My note of quotes from this overtook Leopardi's Zibaldone at 465,529 vs 245,312 characters. I may read through them all and post a few here at some point.
2023: Still the best
2022: Still the best
2021: Still the best
2017: The Best
__________
Second time.
I didn't notice anything jarring about Frame's translation except when it came to some memorable quotes for which I preferred Ives' renderings; would definitely recommend, especially in this nice compact Everyman's Library edition. Will try Screech next time.
I skimmed through the Travel Journal and didn't read the letters, although they're nice to have.
__________
My note of quotes from this overtook Leopardi's Zibaldone at 465,529 vs 245,312 characters. I may read through them all and post a few here at some point.
August 8, 2021
Les Essais
by Michel de Montaigne,
Claude Pinganaud
48327873
Markus's review
Jan 02, 2016, · edit
really liked it
bookshelves: classic-fictions, philosophy, read-in-french
Montaigne (1533 - 1592)
LES ESSAIS
For me to understand the classical author, I always try to situate his setting in time.
So I find it significant that he wrote this book only about fifty years after the discovery of America. The Medieval Times in Europe.
He was a wealthy, well-educated French nobleman living at his family estate, Chateau de Montaigne, in Dordogne, France. There he dwelled in the upper floors of a large round tower, surrounded by over a thousand books. All the classics in Latin I imagine. He should be an honorary member of Good Reads.
He seems to have spent his younger years travelling on horseback through Europe, Switzerland, Germany and Italy, in order to study people and traditions and to look for medication to try and heal his malady of kidney stones.
He started writing the Essays in 1572, thirty-nine years old.
From the very beginning of the publications, around 1580 the Essais attracted great attention and fame.
Over the centuries, from these medieval times, thousands of comments and many hundreds of books have been written about the Essais.
I will try to write down a few short comments of my own perception and understanding.
The subjects of the essays are mainly a random selection of the human character and behaviour in the various situations of life, and Montaigne’s own personal contributions of strength, weaknesses, and experiences.
From the 107 subjects in his three books, I will mention just a few: sadness, laziness, liars, consistency, fear, cannibalism, friendship, learning how to die, etc.
First, I found the reading difficult, even though my French Edition is praised as modern and easy to read. Progress was slow, almost every sentence needs to be studied, turned around and digested.
Then there are many references on the subjects, in Latin, to Classic authors, like Epicurus, Seneca, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Juvenal, Lucrecia, Martial and many others. To a point where you wonder where you read Montaigne’s own ideas and where he draws from his mentors.
As mentioned by the enthusiastic editor of my edition: The Essays seems to have been written for all times, with so much wisdom in one book, it needs to be read over and over again, one will always find something new to be discovered.
The main quality I found, is his poetic style of writing his happy selection of vocabulary, his way of painting each image in beautiful colours.
A soft, friendly, indolent philosophy of life.
3 likes
by Michel de Montaigne,
Claude Pinganaud
48327873
Markus's review
Jan 02, 2016, · edit
really liked it
bookshelves: classic-fictions, philosophy, read-in-french
Montaigne (1533 - 1592)
LES ESSAIS
For me to understand the classical author, I always try to situate his setting in time.
So I find it significant that he wrote this book only about fifty years after the discovery of America. The Medieval Times in Europe.
He was a wealthy, well-educated French nobleman living at his family estate, Chateau de Montaigne, in Dordogne, France. There he dwelled in the upper floors of a large round tower, surrounded by over a thousand books. All the classics in Latin I imagine. He should be an honorary member of Good Reads.
He seems to have spent his younger years travelling on horseback through Europe, Switzerland, Germany and Italy, in order to study people and traditions and to look for medication to try and heal his malady of kidney stones.
He started writing the Essays in 1572, thirty-nine years old.
From the very beginning of the publications, around 1580 the Essais attracted great attention and fame.
Over the centuries, from these medieval times, thousands of comments and many hundreds of books have been written about the Essais.
I will try to write down a few short comments of my own perception and understanding.
The subjects of the essays are mainly a random selection of the human character and behaviour in the various situations of life, and Montaigne’s own personal contributions of strength, weaknesses, and experiences.
From the 107 subjects in his three books, I will mention just a few: sadness, laziness, liars, consistency, fear, cannibalism, friendship, learning how to die, etc.
First, I found the reading difficult, even though my French Edition is praised as modern and easy to read. Progress was slow, almost every sentence needs to be studied, turned around and digested.
Then there are many references on the subjects, in Latin, to Classic authors, like Epicurus, Seneca, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Juvenal, Lucrecia, Martial and many others. To a point where you wonder where you read Montaigne’s own ideas and where he draws from his mentors.
As mentioned by the enthusiastic editor of my edition: The Essays seems to have been written for all times, with so much wisdom in one book, it needs to be read over and over again, one will always find something new to be discovered.
The main quality I found, is his poetic style of writing his happy selection of vocabulary, his way of painting each image in beautiful colours.
A soft, friendly, indolent philosophy of life.
3 likes
Read
March 23, 2016I'd read many of the essays before, and found them to be remarkably iconoclastic and forward-thinking. Here was a guy, alone in his tower in the Périgord, who faced modern life straight on, and suggested that we shouldn't impose our own value system on other societies, that too many schools reward pedantry at the cost of independent thought, and that the highest value should be placed on skepticism, reflection, honesty, and empathy, while his neighbors were busy slaughtering each other for paying fealty to the wrong duke or interpreting the nature of the Holy Spirit differently.
Meanwhile, his additional travelogue is a hell of a portrait of Europe at that time, which seems to the modern reader to be a somewhat magical, otherworldly place, albeit one that would be destroyed not long after by the Thirty Years' War. Buy the whole thing and keep it at your bedside. You won't regret it.
Meanwhile, his additional travelogue is a hell of a portrait of Europe at that time, which seems to the modern reader to be a somewhat magical, otherworldly place, albeit one that would be destroyed not long after by the Thirty Years' War. Buy the whole thing and keep it at your bedside. You won't regret it.
August 20, 2008
Highly referential, but thrillingly timeless. Meandering thoughts on human nature at large. Where you might begin to fear his digressions will leave you lost, there is suddenly stunning insight, and refreshing, even evocative summation. Perhaps it is an attempt to enumerate some grand philosophy on human behavior, yet it weaves historical and personal anecdotes of tragedy and comedy, providing a kind of in depth exploration of the human psyche, but for the layman. Funny, sincere, and palatable for any reader. Look to the index and find a relevant topic to match your mood or hardship. Highly recommended!
May 20, 2012
This book is permanently next to my bed. I consider Montaigne as my most important mentor and soulmate. So much to learn from this philosopher with a love and empathy for all life, an understanding in the psyche of politics and business and a sense of humour that puts everything in perspective and makens him even more sympathetic. Wonderful man. No wonder Shakespeare admired him...
January 5, 2013
I can't say enough good about this man. He is just about the wisest and most humble guy I've had the pleasure to meet. He ranks with Shakespeare and Cervantes as one of the Gods. A book to read anytime, anywhere, just pick a subject and see what he has to say. It can make you a better person.
Read
April 7, 2023How could I not love Montaigne? He lived the life I wish I could live: locked away in a far turret within the fortified walls of his family's château, Montaigne spent his later years basically cloistered in his library, reading and writing, and eventually spawning the form known as the essay. One looks at pictures of the famous tower and dreams.
Having only known Latin until the age of 6, Montaigne's influences are to be expected, especially in light of the historical era of the Renaissance: Virgil, Seneca, Cicero, Lucan, Horace, Catallus, Lucretius, Petrarch, Ariosto, Ovid, Martial, and Juvenal, to name a few.
[The following are my running notes to eventually be crafted into a sort of review.]
1. By diverse means we arrive at the same end:
2. Of sadness:
3. Our feelings reach out beyond us:
4. How the soul discharges its passions on false objects when the true are wanting:
7. That intention is judge of our actions:
8. Of idleness:
9. Of liars:
10. Of prompt or slow speech
11. Of prognostication
12. Of constancy
13. Ceremony of interviews between kings
14. That the taste of good and evil depends in large part on the opinion we have of them
Having only known Latin until the age of 6, Montaigne's influences are to be expected, especially in light of the historical era of the Renaissance: Virgil, Seneca, Cicero, Lucan, Horace, Catallus, Lucretius, Petrarch, Ariosto, Ovid, Martial, and Juvenal, to name a few.
[The following are my running notes to eventually be crafted into a sort of review.]
1. By diverse means we arrive at the same end:
"Truly man is a marvelously vain, diverse, and undulating object. It is hard to found any constant in uniform judgment on him" (5).
2. Of sadness:
"All passions that allow themselves to be savored and digested are only mediocre" (8-9).
3. Our feelings reach out beyond us:
"We are never at home, we are always beyond. Fear, desire, hope, project us toward the future and steal from us the feeling and consideration of what is, to busy us with what will be, even when we show no longer be" (9-10).
4. How the soul discharges its passions on false objects when the true are wanting:
"And we see that the soul in its passions will sooner deceive itself by setting up a false and fantastical object, even contrary to its own belief, than not act against something" (16).
7. That intention is judge of our actions:
"If I can, I shall keep my death from saying anything that my life has not already said" (24).
8. Of idleness:
"The soul [or mind] that has no fixed goal loses itself; for as they say, to be everywhere is to be nowhere" (24).
9. Of liars:
"But the reverse of truth has a hundred thousand shapes and a limitless field. The Pythagoreans make out the good to be certain and finite, evil infinite and uncertain. A thousand paths miss the target, one goes to it" (28).
"And how much less sociable is false speech than silence" (28).
10. Of prompt or slow speech
"I have little control over myself and my moods. Chance has more power here than I. The occassion, the company, the very sound of my voice, draw more from my mind than I find in it when I sound it and use it by myself" (31).
11. Of prognostication
"...in public disorders men stunned by their fate will throw themselves back, as on any superstition, on seeking in the heavens the ancient causes and threats of their misfortune" (35).
"But what gives them an especially good chance to play is the obscure, ambiguous, and fantastic language of the prophetic jargon, to which their authors give no clear meaning, so that posterity can apply to it whatever meanings it pleases" (35).
12. Of constancy
"The Peripatetic sage does not exempt himself from perturbations, but he moderates them" (37).
13. Ceremony of interviews between kings
"It is better for me to offend him once than myself every day" (38).
14. That the taste of good and evil depends in large part on the opinion we have of them
"Men, says an old Greek maxim, are tormented by the opinions they have of things, not by the things themselves" (39).
"...custom and length of time are far stronger counselors than any other compulsion" (43).
April 29, 2010
Montaigne is known as the father of the essay for good reason--he coined the very word for them. An essai is french for attempt--which gives you a sense of Montaigne's style and intent. They're very conversational, as if he's thinking out loud. A little rambling, yes, in the way the conversation with a friend can be, jumping from subject to subject. Some reviewers complained he's vain--well, he is a bit of a know-it-all, including a great deal of quotes from classical sources: Homer, Aesop, Euripides, Plato, Aristotle, Vergil, Caesar, Lucretius, Tacitus, Plutarch... For me that was part of his charm. I'm with the Librarything reviewer who said that "this is a liberal education in a book." There seems to be no aspect of life he doesn't cover in his hundred plus essays.
Montaigne actually struck me as both humane and strikingly modern in quite a few respects--in his concern for native Americans being colonized by the Europeans, his opposition to torture, his concern for animals, among other instances. I found Montaigne lively, often funny, readable, quotable. More so than his imitator Francis Bacon and far, far more so than Emerson. All three, interestingly, have essays on friendship. Montaigne's is the wisest and most moving of the three.
Montaigne actually struck me as both humane and strikingly modern in quite a few respects--in his concern for native Americans being colonized by the Europeans, his opposition to torture, his concern for animals, among other instances. I found Montaigne lively, often funny, readable, quotable. More so than his imitator Francis Bacon and far, far more so than Emerson. All three, interestingly, have essays on friendship. Montaigne's is the wisest and most moving of the three.
October 2, 2011
This is one of those people
we should be ashamed, if we haven't read _at least the tiniest bit of_ him.
The Father of the Essay, right?
I teach college composition, and always make it a point to have the children read:
a. On Laziness.
http://essays.quotidiana.org/montaign...
b. Of a Monstrous Child
http://essays.quotidiana.org/montaign...
(p.s. I guess the keeper of that website, quotidiana, is slightly famous--
teaches at BYU.)
Anyhow...I first picked up the book in LA, circa 2001.
I was working at Goodwill--and think that's where I found it.
(Some thrift store.)
I was kind of mad no one had made me read him yet, that I remembered.
He's actually really funny, and interesting to read. He's not dull.
But a pretty great story--his life story.
Just sitting around, retired. Holed himself up in his library
and just started writing down his thoughts, as he was thinking them.
The essay "On Laziness" describes them.
That he's almost ashamed of his own thoughts. Fantastic.
The rest is history.
Shakespeare owned a copy of his Essais.
I guess almost certainly took some inspiration while writing Hamlet.
Fantastic.
Okay / Sincerely!
we should be ashamed, if we haven't read _at least the tiniest bit of_ him.
The Father of the Essay, right?
I teach college composition, and always make it a point to have the children read:
a. On Laziness.
http://essays.quotidiana.org/montaign...
b. Of a Monstrous Child
http://essays.quotidiana.org/montaign...
(p.s. I guess the keeper of that website, quotidiana, is slightly famous--
teaches at BYU.)
Anyhow...I first picked up the book in LA, circa 2001.
I was working at Goodwill--and think that's where I found it.
(Some thrift store.)
I was kind of mad no one had made me read him yet, that I remembered.
He's actually really funny, and interesting to read. He's not dull.
But a pretty great story--his life story.
Just sitting around, retired. Holed himself up in his library
and just started writing down his thoughts, as he was thinking them.
The essay "On Laziness" describes them.
That he's almost ashamed of his own thoughts. Fantastic.
The rest is history.
Shakespeare owned a copy of his Essais.
I guess almost certainly took some inspiration while writing Hamlet.
Fantastic.
Okay / Sincerely!
January 17, 2019
A series of contemplations on various aspects of life. It is dated (duh!) by a low regard for women and applying the technology of the day to philosphical problems. The essays are strongest in their discussions of the merits of ancient Roman and Greek writers -- Seneca, Plutarch, Livy, Caesar, Socrates, Tacitus. He recommends Tacitus, Seneca and Caesar.
The reason Montaigne is still read today is due to his witticisms and observations about life. "... nothing annoys me so much in the stupid as they are better pleased with themselves than any reasonable person has a right to be."
The essays have been compared to blogs and spawned the essays of Bacon and Emerson, but these essays do not hold up very well.
The reason Montaigne is still read today is due to his witticisms and observations about life. "... nothing annoys me so much in the stupid as they are better pleased with themselves than any reasonable person has a right to be."
The essays have been compared to blogs and spawned the essays of Bacon and Emerson, but these essays do not hold up very well.
December 29, 2009
Montaigne is the model of that ingredient built into all of us that could be called honesty and integrity. He has few fixed dogmas or preoccupations (although he does believe in the value of prayer and the presence of a diety). His view of humankind is a picture of an inconsistent and delightful species and is as interesting and compelling drunk or sober (see his essay "On Drunkeness"). All that one should read and learnn is in these pages and if it isn't then follow Montaigne's advice and read Plutarch.
August 8, 2008
always a pleasure to dip into this one.
the man is a treasure trove of insight, incident and literary/historical anecdote.
love love
love
this book... but i'm in no rush to 'finish' it.
the man is a treasure trove of insight, incident and literary/historical anecdote.
love love
love
this book... but i'm in no rush to 'finish' it.
Read
August 10, 2009"I may contradict myself, but truth I never contradict." Montaigne's attempts (essais) show us how to navigate a world of multiplicity, difference, and becoming. A beautiful, mellow read.
April 8, 2020
After countless times rereading this book I never fail to stumble upon new ideas ...
A true masterpiece.
A true masterpiece.
November 20, 2007
worth it just for the titles of the essays. i expect i'll be reading this book for the next decade or so.
March 16, 2013
I've read these works a number of times, both in Dutch and in French. They have taught me humility, and that there is a lot to love about life. Being able to read these, for one thing.
July 17, 2020
Montaigne’s writings have the quality, so rare in most contemporary books, of depth. Usually, I read books like I inspect boxes at a garage sale: I open them up, glance at what’s inside, and take out the good bits. Montaigne’s books don’t permit such a reading. They’re more like a treasure chest, guarded by a lock and filled with secret compartments. You have to work slowly and attentively to unlock the treasure.
One of these treasures is Montaigne’s reflections on scepticism. Although he writes broadly, scepticism permeates all of his work. He coined the phrase, “what do I know?”. Most philosophers, save some notable examples such as Socrates, hate scepticism. They think it leads to deprivation at best and nihilism at worst. Montaigne, on the other hand, argues that scepticism is enriching. Dogmatism, zealotry, and moralising are always justified by reference to “knowledge”. (Recall that Montaigne is writing during the height of the French Wars of Religion, where his compatriots were massacring each other over the smallest of doctrinal differences). “Knowledge” justifies totalitarian commitments, like an invasive plant species that overtakes an ecosystem. This absolutism stifles one’s ability to enjoy the full range of human experience. Comparatively, the moderation, toleration, and tranquillity that comes with scepticism makes space for one to enjoy the full range of human experience, seeing validity and beauty in multiple perspectives and life paths.
On my better days, I reject scepticism. I’m usually a good objectivist, believing that ultimate reality can be comprehended through the use of reason and the scientific method. However, on my darker days, I fear that science is too limited, humans too biased, and the world too complex for us to truly grasp reality. Most knowledge claims, especially those fervently held, are folly. On those days, I find solace in Montaigne’s reflections on scepticism.
Montaigne’s essays contain life advice from which we can all benefit. I’m pleased I bought the hardcover, rather than paperback, version of this book because I plan to consult its wisdom for the rest of my life.
One of these treasures is Montaigne’s reflections on scepticism. Although he writes broadly, scepticism permeates all of his work. He coined the phrase, “what do I know?”. Most philosophers, save some notable examples such as Socrates, hate scepticism. They think it leads to deprivation at best and nihilism at worst. Montaigne, on the other hand, argues that scepticism is enriching. Dogmatism, zealotry, and moralising are always justified by reference to “knowledge”. (Recall that Montaigne is writing during the height of the French Wars of Religion, where his compatriots were massacring each other over the smallest of doctrinal differences). “Knowledge” justifies totalitarian commitments, like an invasive plant species that overtakes an ecosystem. This absolutism stifles one’s ability to enjoy the full range of human experience. Comparatively, the moderation, toleration, and tranquillity that comes with scepticism makes space for one to enjoy the full range of human experience, seeing validity and beauty in multiple perspectives and life paths.
On my better days, I reject scepticism. I’m usually a good objectivist, believing that ultimate reality can be comprehended through the use of reason and the scientific method. However, on my darker days, I fear that science is too limited, humans too biased, and the world too complex for us to truly grasp reality. Most knowledge claims, especially those fervently held, are folly. On those days, I find solace in Montaigne’s reflections on scepticism.
Montaigne’s essays contain life advice from which we can all benefit. I’m pleased I bought the hardcover, rather than paperback, version of this book because I plan to consult its wisdom for the rest of my life.
March 23, 2024
“Truly man is a marvelously vain, diverse, and undulating object. It is hard to found any constant and uniform judgement on him.” (By Diverse Means We Arrive at the Same End)
“Whatever falls out contrary to custom we say is contrary to nature, but nothing, whatever it be, is contrary to her. Let, therefore, this universal and natural reason expel the error and astonishment that novelty brings along with it.” (Of a Monstrous Child)
“Whatever falls out contrary to custom we say is contrary to nature, but nothing, whatever it be, is contrary to her. Let, therefore, this universal and natural reason expel the error and astonishment that novelty brings along with it.” (Of a Monstrous Child)
Read
April 4, 2021I’ve been reading a few essays on weekends for the larger part of a year. The simplest way to review this is to say that Montaigne’s curious and intelligent mind has been good company.
August 31, 2017
I loved Montaigne’s essays. It is an enormous work, and I found much to enjoy. The kind of book I want in my collection, particularly because it is so long it’s hard to read all of the essays. Five stars.
Here are some of my favorite excerpts:
1:9 - “…excellent memories are prone to be joined to feeble judgments.”
1:20 is about death. Excellent essay. We are all one false step away from death at any moment. Yet people should stop being afraid of it.
“...to strip it [death] of its greatest advantage against us…let us rid it of its strangeness, come to know it, get used to it. Let us have nothing on our minds as often as death. At every moment let us picture it in our imagination in all its aspects. At the stumbling of a horse, the fall of a tile, the slightest pin prick…what if it were death itself?…It is uncertain where death awaits us; let us await it everywhere…He who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave…If I were a maker of books, I would make a register, with comments, of various deaths. He who would teach men to die would teach them to live….for why should we fear to lose a thing which once lost cannot be regretted? And since we are threatened by so many kinds of death, is there not more pain in fearing them all than in enduring one? What does it matter when it comes, since it is inevitable?…Long life and short life are made all one by death…It does not concern you dead or alive: alive, because you are; dead, because you are no more. No one dies before his time. The time you leave behind was no more yours than that which passed before your birth, and it concerns you no more…Did you think you would never arrive where you never ceased going? Yet there is no road but has its end…If you did not have death, you would curse me incessantly for having deprived you of it…in wars the face of death seems to us incomparably less terrifying than in our houses. I truly think it is those dreadful faces and trappings with which we surround it, that frighten us more than death itself: an entirely new way of living; the cries of mothers, wives, and children; the visits of people dazed and benumbed by grief; the presence of a number of pale and weeping servants; a darkened room; lighted candles; our bedside besieged by doctors and preachers; in short, everything horror and fright around us. There we are already shrouded and buried. Happy the death that leaves no leisure for preparing such ceremonies!”
1:21 - humorous. Of flatulence and phallic notions. Describes placebo effects.
1:26 - on the education of children. Teach children to think for themselves, and don’t be harsh with them.
1:28 - of friendship. About the rare instance of a very close friend.
1:51 - Trumpism quote - when wrestling Pericles “…persuades those who saw it happen that he did not fall, and he wins the prize.”
2:5 - Of conscience. Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment could have been conceived in this essay. “…the avenging furies of conscience made the very man bring it out who was to bear the penalty for it. Hesiod corrects the saying of Plato, that punishment follows close after sin; for he says that it is born at the same instant with the sin. Whoever expects punishment already suffers it…He who plans evil suffers most from it…So, even while we take pleasure in vice, there is engendered in our conscience a contrary displeasure which torments us…”
2:17 - Of presumption. “I like to be ignorant of the count of what I have, so as to feel my loss less exactly…[I] abandon myself completely to Fortune [chance], expect the worst in everything, and resolve to bear that worst meekly and patiently. It is for that alone that I labor; that is the goal toward which I direct all my reflections…When things happen I bear myself like a man; in conducting them, like a child. The dread of falling gives me a greater fever than the fall…often it is not as bad to lose your vineyard as to go to court for it. The lowest step is the firmest. It is the seat of constancy. There you need nothing but yourself.”
2:31 - Of anger. “There is no passion that so shakes the clarity of our judgment as anger… Why is it…permissible for fathers and schoolmasters to whip and chastise children when they are in anger? It is no longer correction, it is vengeance… It is passion that is in command at first, it is passion that speaks, it is not we ourselves.”
Here are some of my favorite excerpts:
1:9 - “…excellent memories are prone to be joined to feeble judgments.”
1:20 is about death. Excellent essay. We are all one false step away from death at any moment. Yet people should stop being afraid of it.
“...to strip it [death] of its greatest advantage against us…let us rid it of its strangeness, come to know it, get used to it. Let us have nothing on our minds as often as death. At every moment let us picture it in our imagination in all its aspects. At the stumbling of a horse, the fall of a tile, the slightest pin prick…what if it were death itself?…It is uncertain where death awaits us; let us await it everywhere…He who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave…If I were a maker of books, I would make a register, with comments, of various deaths. He who would teach men to die would teach them to live….for why should we fear to lose a thing which once lost cannot be regretted? And since we are threatened by so many kinds of death, is there not more pain in fearing them all than in enduring one? What does it matter when it comes, since it is inevitable?…Long life and short life are made all one by death…It does not concern you dead or alive: alive, because you are; dead, because you are no more. No one dies before his time. The time you leave behind was no more yours than that which passed before your birth, and it concerns you no more…Did you think you would never arrive where you never ceased going? Yet there is no road but has its end…If you did not have death, you would curse me incessantly for having deprived you of it…in wars the face of death seems to us incomparably less terrifying than in our houses. I truly think it is those dreadful faces and trappings with which we surround it, that frighten us more than death itself: an entirely new way of living; the cries of mothers, wives, and children; the visits of people dazed and benumbed by grief; the presence of a number of pale and weeping servants; a darkened room; lighted candles; our bedside besieged by doctors and preachers; in short, everything horror and fright around us. There we are already shrouded and buried. Happy the death that leaves no leisure for preparing such ceremonies!”
1:21 - humorous. Of flatulence and phallic notions. Describes placebo effects.
1:26 - on the education of children. Teach children to think for themselves, and don’t be harsh with them.
1:28 - of friendship. About the rare instance of a very close friend.
1:51 - Trumpism quote - when wrestling Pericles “…persuades those who saw it happen that he did not fall, and he wins the prize.”
2:5 - Of conscience. Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment could have been conceived in this essay. “…the avenging furies of conscience made the very man bring it out who was to bear the penalty for it. Hesiod corrects the saying of Plato, that punishment follows close after sin; for he says that it is born at the same instant with the sin. Whoever expects punishment already suffers it…He who plans evil suffers most from it…So, even while we take pleasure in vice, there is engendered in our conscience a contrary displeasure which torments us…”
2:17 - Of presumption. “I like to be ignorant of the count of what I have, so as to feel my loss less exactly…[I] abandon myself completely to Fortune [chance], expect the worst in everything, and resolve to bear that worst meekly and patiently. It is for that alone that I labor; that is the goal toward which I direct all my reflections…When things happen I bear myself like a man; in conducting them, like a child. The dread of falling gives me a greater fever than the fall…often it is not as bad to lose your vineyard as to go to court for it. The lowest step is the firmest. It is the seat of constancy. There you need nothing but yourself.”
2:31 - Of anger. “There is no passion that so shakes the clarity of our judgment as anger… Why is it…permissible for fathers and schoolmasters to whip and chastise children when they are in anger? It is no longer correction, it is vengeance… It is passion that is in command at first, it is passion that speaks, it is not we ourselves.”
June 4, 2016
This massive tome of essays is one of the most interesting things I've ever read -- and probably the longest as well. It's interesting, varied, and fascinating, and although it has its awkward parts I'd rank it as literally life-changing.
The majority of this work is Montaigne's actual Essays: he published three books filled with writings on various topics and thoughts -- from philosophy to history to random musings to 16th century events -- in a new-at-the-time style: somewhere between stream-of-consciousness and structured discussions. (The back cover of my book describes it as "talk", "cultivated discontinuities", "tumbling into anecdotes" -- yet it's also clearly a philosophical work.)
He then revised and expanded the essays each time they were published, resulting in a (to me) almost indescribably interesting and (at times) nearly sublime treatment of a wide variety of random and independent topics -- but not too independent: there are plenty of recurring themes and approaches, and also several stances where you can see his opinion shifting over time.
The essays in the first book are rather scattered and random, but as time progresses they grow deeper and more coherent. By the third book he is clearly influenced to some degree by the knowledge that he's actually writing for an audience, yet his writings still convey his personality and intimate thoughts.
The essays are often quite dense, and I felt like no reading speed was quite appropriate yet all were rewarding: slow and careful deep reading reveals multiple layers of meaning and an amazing web of associations as a single topic is revisited and hinted at (sometimes faintly) from many different perspectives over time; but faster reading revealed its own layer of arcs and conversational rails which I completely missed at my normal reading speed, because the scope was too large for me to see. I often had to go slowly (and keep a dictionary nearby) because the writing is so dense and intricate.
Not all of the essays are all that great, however, and there's definitely no shortage of 16th century thinking: rampant jaw-dropping sexism (and other -isms), ludicrously inaccurate ideas about health and medicine, and no shortage of religious thinking. There's also enough variety to balance some of that out: comments about "the lesser and inferior sex" are mixed with a general philosophy that held people closer to equals than most of society did at the time, some of the stuff about health and medicine is borderline hilarious (like rumors of women turning into men if they jump up and down too forcefully), and there's a healthy attitude of skepticism about (some) things in religion and politics.
There is fairly little commentary, although where the footnotes are present they are very thorough and informative. This is especially present in the travel journal and letters.
The travel journal and letters are considerably less interesting and engaging than the actual essays, and I had a hard time getting as into them -- I don't know if I'd recommend those parts (he spends a lot of time complaining about kidney stones and talking about the various sizes and shapes that come out of him), but the historical perspective they provided was fascinating.
I was somewhat tempted to lower my review because, on the whole, not all of this book really merits 5 stars -- but the parts which are good are truly fantastic. Despite the immense time investment it takes to actually read this cover-to-cover (instead of jumping to the more interesting spots, as seems more common) I want to read this again and again.
The majority of this work is Montaigne's actual Essays: he published three books filled with writings on various topics and thoughts -- from philosophy to history to random musings to 16th century events -- in a new-at-the-time style: somewhere between stream-of-consciousness and structured discussions. (The back cover of my book describes it as "talk", "cultivated discontinuities", "tumbling into anecdotes" -- yet it's also clearly a philosophical work.)
He then revised and expanded the essays each time they were published, resulting in a (to me) almost indescribably interesting and (at times) nearly sublime treatment of a wide variety of random and independent topics -- but not too independent: there are plenty of recurring themes and approaches, and also several stances where you can see his opinion shifting over time.
The essays in the first book are rather scattered and random, but as time progresses they grow deeper and more coherent. By the third book he is clearly influenced to some degree by the knowledge that he's actually writing for an audience, yet his writings still convey his personality and intimate thoughts.
The essays are often quite dense, and I felt like no reading speed was quite appropriate yet all were rewarding: slow and careful deep reading reveals multiple layers of meaning and an amazing web of associations as a single topic is revisited and hinted at (sometimes faintly) from many different perspectives over time; but faster reading revealed its own layer of arcs and conversational rails which I completely missed at my normal reading speed, because the scope was too large for me to see. I often had to go slowly (and keep a dictionary nearby) because the writing is so dense and intricate.
Not all of the essays are all that great, however, and there's definitely no shortage of 16th century thinking: rampant jaw-dropping sexism (and other -isms), ludicrously inaccurate ideas about health and medicine, and no shortage of religious thinking. There's also enough variety to balance some of that out: comments about "the lesser and inferior sex" are mixed with a general philosophy that held people closer to equals than most of society did at the time, some of the stuff about health and medicine is borderline hilarious (like rumors of women turning into men if they jump up and down too forcefully), and there's a healthy attitude of skepticism about (some) things in religion and politics.
There is fairly little commentary, although where the footnotes are present they are very thorough and informative. This is especially present in the travel journal and letters.
The travel journal and letters are considerably less interesting and engaging than the actual essays, and I had a hard time getting as into them -- I don't know if I'd recommend those parts (he spends a lot of time complaining about kidney stones and talking about the various sizes and shapes that come out of him), but the historical perspective they provided was fascinating.
I was somewhat tempted to lower my review because, on the whole, not all of this book really merits 5 stars -- but the parts which are good are truly fantastic. Despite the immense time investment it takes to actually read this cover-to-cover (instead of jumping to the more interesting spots, as seems more common) I want to read this again and again.
August 6, 2019
I first read Montaigne's selected essays in my early 20s, in Boston, in a used bookstore Penguin edition, translated by J.M. Cohen. I’d like to give Montaigne the Milky Way--instead of a measly five stars--considering how profoundly he changed my life. In a peculiar way, he taught me how to be myself simply by being so much himself, kidney stones and all. He taught me how to look at myself inwardly. And outwardly. In a word, how to live.
I just wish I could remember how I picked up Montaigne originally. I think I had read an interview with Gore Vidal somewhere and Vidal said that Montaigne was somebody he had been returning to in his old age. At 21, I was more interested in Montaigne's views on cannibals and friendship than aging, quite honestly. I still am. But Gore Vidal's remarks--and a book club subscription--led me to order the bulky M.A. Screech translation of the complete essays, which was relatively new in the early 1990s, and remains excellent.
I am nearly 50 now, having given up the cutthroat hustle and bustle of the East Coast--Boston and NYC--and found myself a studious studio in Portland, Oregon, surrounded by books and trees, and relative peace and tranquility, apart from the midnight ravings of demented meth heads in my neighborhood and the occasional political riot across town. This is my second time tackling the complete essays, the first time in nearly 30 years, and for the first time in the famous Donald Frame translation from 1958. This is by far my favorite version. I do not know enough French to compare versions intelligently, so I cannot give you proper reasons why I would prefer one version over another. Maybe the silk ribbon bookmark that comes with the Frame edition. Maybe the cloth binding. Maybe something else. A feeling maybe--like a tinkling glass of ice-water on an oppressive summer day: fresh and refreshing as ever.
Because, even in translation, Montaigne is a joy: wise, humble, experienced, candid, ironic, funny, reliable, skeptical, faithful, and humane. And, like I said up above, the Frame Montaigne also comes with a built in silk bookmark, should you feel the urge to go swimming, watch TV, play World of Warcraft, make an egg salad sandwich, or love, travel around the world, or visit the toilet. How many flesh and blood friends in your life can make the same claim?
Not many, I bet.
Not many.
I just wish I could remember how I picked up Montaigne originally. I think I had read an interview with Gore Vidal somewhere and Vidal said that Montaigne was somebody he had been returning to in his old age. At 21, I was more interested in Montaigne's views on cannibals and friendship than aging, quite honestly. I still am. But Gore Vidal's remarks--and a book club subscription--led me to order the bulky M.A. Screech translation of the complete essays, which was relatively new in the early 1990s, and remains excellent.
I am nearly 50 now, having given up the cutthroat hustle and bustle of the East Coast--Boston and NYC--and found myself a studious studio in Portland, Oregon, surrounded by books and trees, and relative peace and tranquility, apart from the midnight ravings of demented meth heads in my neighborhood and the occasional political riot across town. This is my second time tackling the complete essays, the first time in nearly 30 years, and for the first time in the famous Donald Frame translation from 1958. This is by far my favorite version. I do not know enough French to compare versions intelligently, so I cannot give you proper reasons why I would prefer one version over another. Maybe the silk ribbon bookmark that comes with the Frame edition. Maybe the cloth binding. Maybe something else. A feeling maybe--like a tinkling glass of ice-water on an oppressive summer day: fresh and refreshing as ever.
Because, even in translation, Montaigne is a joy: wise, humble, experienced, candid, ironic, funny, reliable, skeptical, faithful, and humane. And, like I said up above, the Frame Montaigne also comes with a built in silk bookmark, should you feel the urge to go swimming, watch TV, play World of Warcraft, make an egg salad sandwich, or love, travel around the world, or visit the toilet. How many flesh and blood friends in your life can make the same claim?
Not many, I bet.
Not many.
November 2, 2018
I don’t believe I will ever get tired of returning to these essays. Oh how I adore Monsieur de Montaigne and his peccadilloes!
Although I agree with those who consider Donald Frame’s translation of Montaigne to be the superior one, I nonetheless found it helpful to supplement my reading with M.A. Screech’s edition in tandem. The two together provided better clarity on some of the obscurer passages, and Screech’s footnotes and explanations—especially his exegesis of ‘An Apology for Raymond Sebond’—were illuminating.
(Note: Sarah Bakewell’s How To Live provides a wonderful introduction and background with which to begin a reading of M. de M., although her book is entertaining enough to be read on its own merit alone. She is a wickedly funny and smart writer.)
Although I agree with those who consider Donald Frame’s translation of Montaigne to be the superior one, I nonetheless found it helpful to supplement my reading with M.A. Screech’s edition in tandem. The two together provided better clarity on some of the obscurer passages, and Screech’s footnotes and explanations—especially his exegesis of ‘An Apology for Raymond Sebond’—were illuminating.
(Note: Sarah Bakewell’s How To Live provides a wonderful introduction and background with which to begin a reading of M. de M., although her book is entertaining enough to be read on its own merit alone. She is a wickedly funny and smart writer.)
March 1, 2014
I enjoyed all 1,045 pages of the Complete Essays but I think they got better towards the end. I admire his amiable writing style and his profound tolerance. I wish it were easier to mark and find passages for return reading since the titles of chapters are not too helpful. The translation is clear and maintains a gentle flow throughout the essays.
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