Books
-
My Summer with Montaigne
Let’s talk about the essays. Montaigne’s book was titled Essais, meaning, in the Middle French of the day, “tests” or ”attempts.” 1. The literary form we refer to today as the “essay” did not exist. E.B. White wrote essays for the New Yorker. Susan Sontag wrote essays. Even I write an essay every once and Continue reading
-
My Summer with Montaigne: “Of Anger”
“It seemed to me as if I had myself written the book, in some former life, so sincerely it spoke to my thought and experience.” – Emerson on Montaigne’s Essays Anger “moves us; our hand does not guide it, it guides our hand; it holds us, we do not hold it.” I am slow to Continue reading
-
My Summer with Montaigne: “Of Solitude”, pt. III
“These essays are an attempt to communicate a soul. On this point at least he is explicit. It is not fame that he wants; it is not that men shall quote him in years to come; he is setting up no statue in the market-place; he wishes only to communicate his soul.” Virginia Woolf on Continue reading
-
My Summer With Montaigne: “Of solitude”, pt. I
I thought it fitting to start this little project by considering Montaigne’s writings on solitude. I say this because this summer, like the past half dozen summers, I am again out in the woods and in the mountains. Though this existence isn’t solitude in the extreme, it is a degree of solitude. There are far Continue reading
-
Book Review: “How to Live, A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts to Answer” by Sarah Bakewell
I was first introduced to Michel de Montaigne (1533 – 1592) about thirty years ago. I was in graduate school. I don’t remember the class, nor the other required readings. But I remember Montaigne. I eventually dropped out of graduate school, but Montaigne stayed with me. It was, perhaps, and I honestly mean this, the most Continue reading
-
The Most Influential Book
Château de Montaigne where the Essays where written. I was recently asked about the book that has exerted the most influence over me. This is a big question, as I’ve been a reader all of my life. I’m no longer a young man and that means a lot of books have contributed to my reading life. Continue reading
...the house I live in... 