Customer Reviews

ESSAYS of Michel de Montaigne

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Please note almost all of the reviews on this page are for the regular book version. The Kindle version claims to have a Table of Contents, which is essential since the regular book is 1344 pages! They just lie. There is no Table of Contents and this typical of the Kindle store and I'm truly sorry I ever bought the thing. [...].

I purchased this edition on August 10, eager to read the Screech translation. Unfortunately, the link to that file is broken. Instead, I received the public domain e-book of the Cotton/Hazlitt translation. I didn't notice until today.

I'm giving 5 stars because:

-- Montaigne is incomparable.

-- I have read the Frame translation, and have heard good word about the Screech version.

-- Amazon support was excellent. They immediately deleted the version I had downloaded and helped me to test whether the file advertised on this page was incorrectly linked. They confirmed that it was, and promptly deleted all my versions, and refunded all charges.

Amazon told me that that it would take a few days to correct the problem. Make sure that you check what you buy and that you get what this page advertises, which is the modern translation by Screech, not the archaic translation by Cotton / Hazlitt.

UPDATE: I purchased this item again, having given Amazon the 2-3 days that the earlier customer service rep had said it would take to correct the link. I once again received the public domain Cotton / Hazlitt translation. Upon calling Amazon, they once again promised to correct the link (and once again gave me a refund). I told the person I spoke with about my last contact, and received assurances that I would receive an e-mail notice when the problem has been corrected. I am now less impressed with Amazon's customer service.

Be advised that as of April, 2010, you will still receive the Cotton translation, not Screech as advertised.

The link has never been corrected, despite the multiple complaints of the previous reviewer.

It does, however, have a table of contents.

If you are simply looking for a copy of the Essays and don't care who translated it, this edition is fine.

It just isn't the one specified in the description.

I bought this book in 7/2008 and got the Cotton translation. It is very messy and there is no table of contents. Some of the parts of the translation are badly done. For example, in the paragraphs beginning "On Cruelty", there is a long section that made no sense until I consulted the Cohen translation (in paperback, not available for Kindle), and realized that the translator is referring to virtue (with a small v) as "she" sometimes and as "it" sometimes, where the original would have been consistent. (Virtu, or whatever the word is in French, is, I think, in the feminine gender; the translator is half thinking in English and half in French here.)

I checked the sample available on 3/13/2011 and found that it's still the Cotton translation, but now has a forward by Hazlitt, and it has a table of contents consisting of just the Roman numerals for the chapters (not the essay titles). This is about 5% better than what was available in 2008. I won't buy this newer Cotton edition.

Montaigne deserves better than this. My recommendation to anyone right now is to buy Sarah Bakewell's book on Montaigne (available for Kindle) and get the Cohen or Frame translation in an old-fashioned printed book.