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Essais

Montaigne, Michel de

2077 pages

A sprawling, intimate conversation with a brilliant, endlessly curious friend from the sixteenth century.

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What it feels like

Reading this feels less like studying a philosophical treatise and more like sitting by the fire with a brilliant, endlessly curious, and slightly eccentric friend. The pace is wonderfully meandering, inviting you to wander down intellectual rabbit holes and sudden tangents about everything from the fear of death to the habits of thumbs. It is deeply intimate and surprisingly modern, anchored by a narrator who is as quick to mock his own kidney stones and poor memory as he is to dissect the human condition. The prose is conversational yet dense with classical wisdom, creating a contemplative, cozy atmosphere. It will delight readers who cherish personal essays, philosophical inquiry, and the messy, beautiful reality of being human.

Mood
  • intimate
  • contemplative
  • cozy
  • intellectually restless
Tone
  • conversational
  • inquisitive
  • candid
  • self-deprecating
  • wry
Pace
meandering
Themes
the nature of self · human fallibility · mortality and aging · the absurdity of life · friendship and connection
The writing
Digressive and conversational, weaving classical allusions seamlessly into intimate, everyday observations.
The arc
Begins as a formal inquiry into classical virtues and gradually unravels into a deeply personal, vulnerable embrace of human imperfection.
Who it's for
Readers who love philosophical musings, personal essays, and spending time in the company of a witty, deeply human mind.
Content notes
  • discussions of death and mortality
  • illness and bodily functions
  • historical violence

About the book

Translated by Charles Cotton and George Savil.

Vol. 1: [34], 414, [24] p.; v. 2: [4], 608, [32] p.; v. 3: [4], 468, [28] p.

A revision of Cotton's translation.

Bentley, G.E., Blake books, Suppl., p. 326.

Gift to Victoria University Library. Bentley, G.E., Jr. 2005/10/01.

Victoria University Library copy lacks v. 1, p. 179-192.

Victoria University Library volumes have armorial bookplates of Ernest Everard Gates.

The signature of "Wm. Blake" at the top of each volume's title-page in the Victoria University Library copy is the signature of William Blake, the lawyer of Beckford Row, not William Blake, the poet and engraver. Cf. Bentley.

Victoria University Library: A reproduction from Bloomsbury Book Auctions, 28 August 1986 in which this is #206 is inserted.

Description from Open Library.

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