The Essays (French: Essais , pronounced < span title = "Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)"> [es?] ) of Michel de Montaigne is contained in three books and 107 chapters of varying length. Montaigne's written design in writing, publishing and revising essays during the period from about 1570 to 1592 was to record "some of my character traits and my humor." The Essays were first published in 1580 and cover a wide range of topics.
Video Essays (Montaigne)
Style
Montaigne writes in rhetoric designed to arouse interest and engage the reader, occasionally appearing to move in the flow of thought from topic to topic and at other times using a structured style that gives more emphasis on the didactic nature of his work. His argument is often supported by quotations from ancient Greek, Latin, and Italian texts such as Luciferius and Plutarch. Furthermore, his essay is seen as an important contribution to writing both form and skepticism. The name itself comes from the French word essais , which means "effort" or "test", which shows how this new form of writing does not aim to educate or prove. Instead, his essay is an exploratory journey in which he works through logical steps to bring skepticism to what is being discussed.
Maps Essays (Montaigne)
Content
The stated objective of Montaigne in his book is to portray him honestly and honestly ("bonne foi "). The insight into the nature of man provided by his essay, which they read widely, is merely a by-product of his introspection. Despite the implications of his deep-rooted and far-reaching essay, he does not mean, or suspects his work to garner much attention outside his inner circle, prefers his essay with, "I myself am the problem of this book, you would be unreasonable to delay your free time with recklessness and in vain. "
Montaigne's essay topics stretch the entire spectrum to the trivial, with titles ranging from "Of Sadness and Sorrow" and "Of Conscience" to "Of Smells" and "Of Posting" (referring to mail posts). Montaigne wrote at a time preceded by Catholic and Protestant ideological tensions. Christianity in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries saw Protestant writers consistently attempt to overthrow the doctrine of the Church on their own grounds and scholarship. As a result, Catholic scholars embrace skepticism as a means to discredit all grounds and scholarship and accept the teachings of the Church through faith alone. Montaigne has never found certainty in any of his questions about human nature and things, regardless of his best efforts and his many attempts. He does not believe in the certainty of human reason and experience. He reasoned that while man is limited, the truth is infinite; thus, human capacity is naturally impeded in reality filled with fullness or certainty. Though he believes in the existence of absolute truth, an attribute that distinguishes him from a pure skeptic, he believes that such truth can only arrive by man through divine revelation, leaving us in darkness in many ways. He discovers the great diversity and instability of human nature into the most basic features, which correspond to the Renaissance's notion of human fragility. According to cleric Paul Oskar Kristeller, "the period authors are very conscious of the misery and tribulations of our earthly existence". The representative quote is "I have never seen a larger monster or miracle than myself."
He opposed European colonization in America, deplored the suffering inflicted on the indigenous population.
Citing the case of Martin Guerre as an example, Montaigne believes that humans can not achieve certainty. His skepticism is best expressed in the long-term "An Apology for Raymond Sebond" essay (Book 2, Chapter 12) which is often published separately. Montaigne argues that we can not trust our reasoning because thoughts come to us: we do not really control them. Furthermore, he says we have no good reason to consider ourselves superior to animals. He is very skeptical of the recognition obtained under torture, indicating that such recognition may be made by the suspect only to escape his targeted torture. In the middle of what is usually called "Human Knowledge Can not Make Him Good," he writes that his motto is "What do I know?". The essay on Sebondus defends Christianity. Montaigne also eloquently uses many references and quotations from classical and Roman Greek, ie non-Christian writers, especially Lucretius atomis.
Montaigne considers marriage necessary to raise children, but dislikes strong romantic love as something that harms freedom. One of his quotes is "Marriage is like a cage, one sees the birds coming in desperate, and those who are desperate to get out."
In education, he likes concrete examples and experiences of teaching abstract knowledge that are expected to be accepted uncritically. The Montaigne Essay "On the Education of Children" is dedicated to Diana of Foix.
British journalist and politician J. M. Robertson argues that Montaigne's essays have had a major influence on William Shakespeare's dramas, citing their similarities in language, themes, and structures.
The incredibly clear modernity of thought in Montaigne's essay, coupled with their sustained popularity, made them arguably the most prominent work in French philosophy until the Enlightenment. Their influence on French education and culture is still strong. An official portrait of former French president FranÃÆ'§ois Mitterrand imagines him facing the camera, holding an open copy of the Essays in his hand.
Chronology
Montaigne greatly edits Essays at various points of his life. Sometimes he only inserts one word, while at other times he will enter the whole section. Many editions mark this with the following letters:
- A: verses written 1571-1580, published 1580
- B: verses written 1580-1588, published 1588
- C: readings written 1588-1592, published 1595 (after posthumous)
A copy of the fifth edition of Essais with an additional "C" Montaigne in his own hand, is stored in Bordeaux City Library (known by the editor as "Bordeaux Copy"). This edition provides a modern editor of the text that dramatically demonstrates Montaigne's final intent (as opposed to many of the no-signing Renaissance works). Analyzing the differences and additions between the editions shows how Montaigne's thinking evolved over time. Remarkably, he does not seem to erase his previous writings, even when they contradict his more recent views.
The Essays
English translation
- John Florio (1603)
- Charles Cotton (1685-6)
- Later edited by William Carew Hazlitt (1877)
- George Burnham Ives (1925)
- E.J. Trechmann (1927)
- Jacob Zeitlin (1934-6)
- Donald M. Frame (1957-8)
- J. M. Cohen (1958)
- Michael Andrew Screech (1991)
See also
- Essay (Francis Bacon)
Note
External links
- Charles Cotton's translation of several Montaigne essays:
- plain text version by Project Gutenberg
- HTML version at the University of Adelaide
- searchable HTML version at Oregon State University
- The full text of the full edition of Villey-Saulnier from the ARFTL project at the University of Chicago (France)
- Essay Books 1-3 read by Librivox volunteers
- Montaigne Essay in 10 volumes: in Liberty Online Library
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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