Beyond ruffled-collar envy, what’s with me and Montaigne?

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) is generally recognized as the first master of the modern personal essay, the genre of creative writing I most often practice.  (Or at least attempt to practice.)

I don’t recall exactly when I became a Montaigne fan. In 2002 while vacationing in southeast France, we visited his chateau with its famous tower (as pictured) where over a period of years he wrote the hundreds of essays that established his on-going fame. As my knowledge of and patience with French is limited, I eventually tackled Montaigne via The Complete Essays translation by Donald Frame*. In the meanwhile, I had begun spending considerable time and effort writing my own essays [see the Words page].

But why? I wasn’t seeking fame or fortune or even obscure publication. When I read Montaigne’s introduction

To The Reader: “… dedicated…to the private convenience of my relatives and friends, so that when they have lost me (as soon they must), they may recover here some features of my habits and temperament, and by this means keep the knowledge they have had of me more complete and alive,”

I figured he had nailed it. {Though for me hopefully “soon” isn’t to be too soon.}

And now I expand his dedication beyond my writing to this entire website.




* To be honest, for me Montaigne’s essays can be tough reading. Beyond the obscurity of his contemporary context [almost 500 years ago after all], his intellectual context has many references to the classics (Ovid, Virgil, Plutarch…) that puts me into don’t-get-it-without-footnote-or-secondary- search mode. For me a much more accessible insight to Montaigne is given by Sarah Bakewell’s How to Live: A Life of Montaigne.