Selected Essays (Dover Thrift Editions) [Paperback]

Michel de Montaigne (Author), Charles Cotton (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Dover Thrift Editions | Publication Date: May 20, 1996

Careful selection of 8 masterly essays by noted French writer and thinker: "Of Friendship," "Of Books," "Of Cruelty," "Of Repentance," "Of Three Commerces," "Of Solitude," "Of the Inequality Among Us" and "That It Is Folly to Measure Truth and Error by Our Own Capacity." Classic Charles Cotton translation. New introductory Note.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (May 20, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 048629109X
• ISBN-13: 978-0486291093
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,109,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars These "Selected Essays" were too narrowly selected., February 23, 2001

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Volkswagen Blues "cead1" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selected Essays (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

If you haven't read Montaigne, you have to read him. Hell, he invented the essay. That's not at issue here. Which edition you choose, though, is. In general, I'm a big fan of the Dover Thrift Editions. They cover many classics of the canon, with competent if mildly antiquated translations, and--best of all--they're dirt cheap.

This short edition, a tiny selection of the essays of Michel de Montaigne, has many virtues, not the least of which is editor Philip Smith's excellent contribution in footnotes at the bottom of each page. Smith points to problems in the translation, updating it where necessary and remedying Montaigne's penchant for sprinkling Latin quotes here and there; all the Latin passages are translated and traced to their origins.

In addition, this volume does contain a couple of Montaigne's most durable essays, especially "Of Friendship" and "Of Repentance." Some choice ones are noticeably absent, though, and in particular Montaigne's hard look at the practice of colonizing the then-New World. Essays like "Of Cannibals" and "Of Coaches," which use an examination of native American cultures in order to critique the culture of Montaigne's own France, are far more popular (if not indispensible) today than they were in 1877, when the essays in this selection were originally chosen and translated. Those omissions, more than anything else, leave this Dover Edition feeling substantially dated and disappointingly incomplete.

Dover Editions are usually the best buy around, but for Montaigne's Essays, it's worth your while to spring for a more complete selection.