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Michel de Montaigne - The Complete Essays (Penguin Classics)

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Montaigne wrote what he called "essays", in the sense of "attempts" - he was trying to find out what he thought about stuff. It helped that he'd read a great deal, led a pretty full life and had known some interesting people, although one of his great virtues is that he seems to have found them more interesting than they themselves probably thought they were.

Pascal struggled all his life with the example of Montaigne. The problem for Pascal was that he was only really concerned with one thing - God's grace - and he was scandalised that Montaigne didn't seem to find it that big a deal. MM will write as readily about theological disputes and poetry as he will about sex, forgetfulness and his own stupidity. Apart from anything else, he was perhaps the first person to observe that nobody can pretend that his s*** doesn't stink (I can't remember the exact page, but then there _are_ over a thousand.)

There's a lifetime's reading in here. For such a big fat classic of a book it reads like it was written yesterday, although if it _had_ been written yesterday, he'd've been all over Hello! magazine by now.

Wisdom is maybe underrated these days, but Montaigne isn't just spouting off. This is not a 16th century evening with Morrie. You can see him thinking. He _encourages_ you. (What a great word "encourage" is.) It's not that bad for about fourteen quid.

MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE - THE COMPLETE ESSAYS. Translated and Edited with an Introduction and Notes by M. A. Screech. lviv + 1284 pp. (Penguin Classics). London : Penguin Books, 1993 and Reissued. ISBN 0-14-044604-4 (pbk.)

Those who discover Montaigne should count themselves very lucky. There are so many authors competing for our attention today, so many brilliant and less than brillliant men and women both contemporary and of the past, so many poets, novelists, philosophers, thinkers of every stripe, that Montaigne's voice can easily get lost in the general racket, like the voice of a single cricket on a noisy summer's night.

But Montaigne's voice is well worth singling out for special attention, like that one cricket whose song is especially musical, because there has never been anyone quite like him, nor anyone who has produced such a wealth of sensible observations on life and everything that goes to make it up.

We love Montaigne for his humanity, his wisdom, his clear insight into human nature, his tolerance of our weaknesses and failings, his love and compassion for all creatures whether man, animal, or plant, his calm, gentle and amiable voice, his stately and dignified progress as he conducts us through the vast repository of his mind. But above all we love him for his plain good sense.

Despite his distance in time, we can open these essays almost anywhere and immediately become engrossed. Some of what he says, particularly about our weaknesses and failings, may not be particularly welcome to some, though the open-minded will acknowledge its self-evident truth. Montaigne was not afraid to speak his mind, and as a man who was interested in almost everything, his observations range from the curious through to the truly profound.

At one time we find him, for example, discussing the best sexual position for conception, at others such deep notions as that "in truth we are but nothing" (p.555); "there is a plague on man, the opinion that he knows something" (p.543); thought as the chief source of our woes (p.514); "in man curiosity is an innate evil" (p.555); "only a fool is bound to his body by fear of death" (p.553); nature needs little to be satisfied" (p.526); there is only change (p.xvii); our absolute need for converse with others (p.421); how "if a ray of God's light touched us even slightly, it would be everywhere apparent : not only our words but our deeds would bear its lustre and its brightness. Everything emanating from us would be seen shining with that noble light" (p.493); how man should "lay aside that imaginary kingship over other creatures which is attributed to us" (p.487); how reason is not a special unique gift of human beings, marking us off from the rest of Nature" (p489); of how "we owe justice to men," and "gentleness and kindness" to "beasts, which have life and feelings [and] even to trees and plants" (p.488).

And so on through manifold topics, both weighty and light, his observations illustrated by stories contemporary and ancient, drawn not only from his incredibly wide learning, but also from his experience as man of the world.

The examples I've cited seem to me pitifully inadequate as describing or even suggesting the breadth of his thought - just a few examples selected at random that happen to appeal to me. Montaigne is too big to capture in a few words. His mind was as capacious as his enormous book, and he had something to say about almost everything. His is not so much a book as a companion for life.

Montaigne as that single special cricket singing away in the forest of learning along with thousands of others, is not only worth singling out because of his vast repertoire of songs, but even more because of the special way he sang them. What makes him so important and so valuable, especially to us today, is that he was characterized above all, not merely by reason, which is common enough, but by a REASONABLE, AND NOT EXCESSIVE, USE OF REASON. In other words, he knew that reason had its limits, that it was a tool limited in its applicability and useful only for certain purposes, and he had the good sense to know when we should stop.

There is in Montaigne a sanity, a balance, an affability, and a modesty and tolerance that is found in no other European thinker, and that reminds one more of the Chinese sage. But instead of fastening on the truly civilized pattern established by Montaigne, Europe instead chose Descartes, Apostle of the Excessive Use of Reason, and with what results we know.

The Cartesian ideology of Reason fueled and continues to fuel the relentless Juggernaut of Reason now underway that threatens to end up crushing everything beneath its wheels. Montaigne would have been appalled. He stood for something more human.

Montaigne. He has lessons for us all, I've found.

Some of the lessons are hard. He writes about everything, but most of all, he writes about himself. There is a painful clarity to his work - but that cliche term does nothing to properly explain what it is he accomplishes with his writing.

At thirty-three, Montaigne decided to retire to his home and write. He had vague ideas about writing a gentleman's book on warfare, and the first few essays reflect that. But, as he progressed, he kept going on little side journeys into his own thoughts and opinions. At first, Montaigne reigned himself in, struggling to stay true to the path he had decided for himself.

Happily for us, he failed.

He abandoned the idea of writing for gentlemen - though there are still slight evidences of this throughout the work. Instead, he decided to focus on the one thing he knew better than anybody else in the entire world - Montaigne. Who else could know more, or would bother to take as much time exploring this one man than the man himself? And why not explore his own mind - every day, he has to live and deal with the advantages and disadvantages, the habits and the thoughts, the opinions and the ironies of being Montaigne. Thus, he decided, it was worth exploring. In his view, there was nothing more important than understanding one's self. If you cannot understand yourself, how can you expect to understand anybody else?

There are moments of 'painful clarity', as I said above. Montaigne discusses (his) impotence, his imperfect marriage, the disappointments he has created in others, the times when he did not do what he should. But he also talks about how he can make himself a better person, and how, in a lot of ways, he is an admirable person. It is important to realise that Montaigne is not writing an apology for himself. He is putting himself on to paper, 'warts and all', and declaring it true. There is a point in one of the essays where he declares that he wouldn't want anyone to lie about the person he is, even if they flattered him or praised him. This is, in a nutshell, Montaigne's thinking. He is not concerned with being the greatest person ever known - he is concerned with understanding himself.

Four hundred years on, what is there to offer us, the modern reader, in Montaigne? An infinity of wisdom. Could I, in honesty, completely and unwaveringly disect myself for the consumption of both myself and others? I don't think so. I very much fear that the answer is no. And yet - why not? Is it shame? I don't think so, as I have nothing major to hide. Perhaps, then, it is simply the fear of unrealised ideas and thoughts. If I am unaware of myself, I cannot present it. Montaigne was and is aware of himself and thus manages to accurately describe the person that he is.

Montaigne's essays are invaluable not only for the man that they portray, but for the wisdom in what is spoken. Montaigne has thought about so many aspects of what it is to be a human and alive, and we can all learn from this. The topics he discusses go beyond mere 16th century issues, and deal with concepts, ideas and concerns that affect us now, and will affect us always. Absolutely essential reading.

Other reviewers here have commented about the contents of the essays and left me little to say. Instead, I have to pay a large compliment to the translator, M.A. Screech.

Aside from the clarity of his prose and his engaging tone, Screech managed to synthesize the multiple editions of the essays into a single work, giving the readers an insight into Montaigne's development.

The essays were originally published in three editions. With each revision, essays were amended, expanded, and edited as Montaigne's thoughts developed. Screech uses a subtle system to note these later additions and revisions, pointing out where the essays grew over time.

Screech's translations of the hundreds of classical quotations are also well handled, giving both the original language and a clear English rendering of the passage without interrupting the flow of the text.

This is an amazing book. Moving, insightful, humane, and thick enough to kill any bugs you choose to smack with it. I've had to order a second copy of this volume, since I've reduced my first copy to tatters, reading and rereading it. Okay, and smacking bugs.

At critical junctures of my life I have found Montaigne to be the best source of understanding of what it is to be a civilized human being. The essays illuminate the self and our relationship to society. This book more than any other I know enables the reader to trace our relationship to issues that concern us today: freedom, appropriate behavior, individuals vs institutions, health, nature. You name it, MM deals with it. Buy this book.

When reading Montaigne's essays, I had to continually pinch myself out of the notion that I was reading the innermost secrets of a thoroughly modern human being. Far from the reaches of cell phones, televisions, automobiles, miracle drugs, 7-11 stores and the internet, Michel De Montaigne (1533-1592) via his essays, at once conveys the essence of the universal human condition, and imparts to us a sense of relief and liberation; that our life's journey, beneath all the trappings of the times, share their essential qualities: the challenges, triumphs, tragedies, passions, ironies and humor. With remarkable wit, Montaigne draws characters out of the history books, particularly the classics, and demonstrates to us that our human foibles date not just to HIS own times, but to the dawn of humanity and civilization itself. I read the Penguin Classics edition of the essays, translated by Dr. M. A. Screech, and must say that it is among the best translations of any book I have ever read. Dr. Screech employs an entertaining, colorful and evocative vocabulary which succeeds both in clarity of communication as well as painting vivid and rich pictures for our mind's eye to feast upon. Perhaps Montaigne's most charming quality is his self-effacing and modest demeanor. Never tooting his own horn, except perhaps to lay bare his bad memory or some other perceived fault, the following is one example of thousands which reflects his humor and humility. Wishing to deliver a critique of great intellectual and rhetorical importance, Montaigne instead settles for: "I would say of them the same as Cicero (if I could talk as well as he could.)"

Over the years I have kept a copy of the Essays by my favorite reading chair to be enjoyed at random, particularly in the middle of the night when Entropy seems to hold the upper hand. They exercise a remarkable calming effect.

Seduced by the idea of having a complete set of all the Essays, I initially opted for the complete Screech translation, but found it wooden and pedantic. I moved to the Cohen translation Montaigne: Essays, which does not include all of the Essays, but has all of the major ones and is far more enjoyable.

Before ordering the Kindle version of Montaigne's essays, you should be aware that the edition priced at $0.89 is NOT the excellent recent edition by M.A. Screech, but the Mobi transcription of the Charles Cotton edition of 1580 -- an interesting medieval version, but hardly equivalent to Screech's Penguin Classics translation. To purchase the Screech edition, be sure to order the "Kindle edition, September 7, 1993" for $18.99. The Screech edition is worth the price!

In the entire history of western philosophy, there is not one person I can praise more than Michel de Montaigne. Normally, any book over 500 pages tends to become tedious to me, and works of philosophy over that length become insufferable. The best praise I can give this book is to say that at 1200 pages, I was not the least weary of it. In fact, I wished it was longer! Montaigne is the definitive philosopher, a man driven to write out of boredom, who presents his essays as his views, never trying to categorize and name realities, but simply marvelling over everything, from literature to pets. His broad learning and wonderfully disorganized style lead the reader on a journey into the what ifs, and whys of existence. Montaigne is the epitome of a renaissance man. His views in most situations are more modern than yesterday. He speaks out for the virtues of women, carefully denounces war, subtly questions the more extraneous doctrines of Catholicism, and even denounces colonialism and promotes respect of racial and cultural differences. This is not a man one would have expected to find in the 1500s. But here he is. And his text! Often saying that his memory was weak, MOntaigne demonstrates it by going off on wild tangents for thirty pages, only to realize that he has succeeding in proving his original idea without his knowledge. His sentences and rich prose leap across the pages, and dance with ideas of the sublime and the ridiculous, ideas which he does not so much attempt to resolve as ponder upon a page. He never once falls into the philosopher's folly of stating his views as though they were fact, and is often very careful to say, "This is what I think" in one way or another. He never attempts to convince the reader, for he originally never intended his essays to have a reader. In situations where he would challenge authority, he is always careful to say, for instance, "But my own views are nothing, the church of course knows better". More than any other work of philosophy, the Essays are an adventure, leading one through the soul of a man, a man who thought so little of himself but was so great. It reads almost as a novel, and at the end, after 1200 pages of Essays, Montaigne stands before the reader as clearly as any historical or fictional figure ever has. This is the true Magnum Opus of western philosophy.

The essays of Michel de Montaigne are obligatory reading for everyone. He has something to say to all of us, no matter what our background might be. His thought ranges over the entire spectrum of human experience with elegance and depth. His thinking is based in a renaissance liberalism founded on the great classical literature of Rome and Greece. He was one of the first humanists, and remains one of the most important. This book is the kind of book that you will read for days, put down, pick up again read for a while, put down, and so on as long as you live. It is the perfect book to have beside your bed or your favorite reading chair. The Screetch translation is exceptionally good, with careful notes, explanatory introduction. It is an excellent edition of this masterwork. It is a book everyone must have in their personal library.