 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | In 1572, Montaigne retired to his estates in order to devote himself to leisure, reading and reflection. There he wrote his constantly expanding 'essays', inspired by the ideas he found in books from his library and his own experience. He discusses subjects as diverse as war-horses and cannibals, poetry and politics, sex and religion, love and friendship, ecstasy and experience. Above all, Montaigne studied himself to find his own inner nature and that of humanity. The Essays are among the most idiosyncratic and personal works in all literature. An insight into a wise Renaissance mind, they continue to engage, enlighten and entertain modern readers. |
Average Customer Rating:   I'm in the minority I didn't have to read this book for a course, but I'd heard good things about it. What can I say? I finished it but it wasn't particularly interesting and a week after I finished it I couldn't remember what any of it was about. During Reading, Montaigne Becomes A Light-Hearted, Warm, Beneficially Critical and Thought-Provoking Friend Montaigne was a truly astounding soul and intellect. His essays are at once rapturous, skatter-brained, focused and convincing. He writes about, literally, everyting- from war to sex, from love to solitude. And his insights truly create synaptical connections in each reader's brain that change your viewpoints on life, and how you live. It's like having a great two-year conversation with a very, very valuable friend.
What surprises me most of all about his work is how modern and penetrating his thoughts and rationality still seem, some hundreds of years later. These essays a truly a testament to how revolutionary the Renaissance was, and an early milestone in the increasing rational objectivism and inquiry of science. There is wisdom for the ages, here. Highly, highly, highly recommended. The Shakespeare of Essayists If he had a more manageable name, there should be an equivalent to "Shakespearean" for Michel de Montaigne, and the label to refer to essayists of his level. As with Shakespearean, you have to pay attention lest the dense, meaningful sentences fly past. And frankly, there are times, and moods, when he's too dense for me to appreciate, or I'm too dense and have to put him aside.
Like another wonderful essayist, William Hazlitt, Montaigne often takes a circuitous path, following the associations of his fertile, discursive mind, to touch upon all manner of things, before coming back to his point(s) with new, expanded insights. Or bringing up other, entirely unexpected points, altogether. Again, requiring an attentive reader, and one not looking for a point, but patiently waiting for the next rewarding chunk of writing to come, as it always does.
In a frame of mind to focus and leave the world and its distractions behind, Montaigne is the most rewarding of writers. Take, for example, this (among so many other passages), from the essay "On Cruelty":
"Virtue demands a rough and thorny road: she wants either external difficulties to struggle agains ... by means of which Fortune is pleased to break up the directness of her course for her, or else inward difficulties furnished by the disordered passions and imperfections of our condition."
And this, from "On Repenting," capturing his straightforward honesty and self-assurance, without self-aggrandizing pride:
"I have hardly cause to blame anyone but myself for my failures or misfortunes, for in practice I rarely ask anyone for advice save to honor them formally; the exception is when I need learned instruction or knowledge of the facts. But in matters where only my judgment is involved, the arguments of others rarely serve to deflect me, though they may well support me; I listen to them graciously and courteously--to all of them. But as far as I can recall, I have never yet trusted any but my own." I Think, Therefore Who Am I?
A Sexist I had to read this book in one of my English literature classes. I find this man has some interesting things to say that our flesh and bodies are married together forming one unity. But he is a bit on the perverted side in mentioning that his cock is too hard in one chapter and that woman are like play objects. However, his theories are negative and a bit sexist. I do not see the point that he is trying to convey. Essays 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.
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