The Essays A Selection

by Montaigne, Michel de; Screech, M. A.; Screech, M. A.; Screech, M. A.

• ISBN13: 9780140446029
• ISBN10: 0140446028
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-05-03
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

To overcome a crisis of melancholy after the death of his father, Montaigne withdrew to his country estates and began to write. In the highly original essays that resulted he discussed themes such as fathers and children, conscience and cowardice, coaches and cannibals, and, above all, himself. On Some Lines of Virgil opens out into a frank discussion of sexuality and makes a revolutionary case for the equality of the sexes. In On Experience Montaigne superbly propounds his thoughts on the right way to live, while other essays touch on issues of an age struggling with religious and intellectual strife, with France torn apart by civil war. These diverse subjects are united by Montaigne's distinctive voice - that of a tolerant man, sceptical, humane, often humorous and utterly honest in his pursuit of the truth. M. A. Screech's distinguished translation fully retains the light-hearted and inquiring nature of the essays. In his introduction, he examines Montaigne's life and times, and the remarkable self-portrait that emerges from his works.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
Note on the Text	xxii
The Annotations	xxiii
Note on the Translation	xxv
Explanation of the Symbols	xxvi
THE ESSAYS: A SELECTION
To the Reader	3	(2)
BOOK I
We reach the same end by discrepant means	5	(4)
On idleness	9	(2)
On punishing cowardice	11	(2)
On fear	13	(4)
To philosophize is to learn how to die	17	(20)
On educating children	37	(37)
That it is madness to judge the true and the false from our own capacities	74	(5)
On the Cannibals	79	(14)
Judgements on God's ordinances must be embarked upon with prudence	93	(3)
On solitude	96	(13)
On prayer	109	(11)
On the length of life	120	(4)
BOOK II
On the inconstancy of our actions	124	(8)
On drunkenness	132	(11)
On conscience	143	(5)
On the affection of fathers for their children	148	(21)
On cruelty	169	(17)
In defence of Seneca and Plutarch	186	(8)
On three good wives	194	(8)
On the resemblance of children to their fathers	202	(30)
BOOK III
On repenting	232	(15)
On three kinds of social intercourse	247	(13)
On some lines of Virgil	260	(70)
On coaches	330	(21)
On the lame	351	(13)
On experience	364	(63)
Index	427	(19)
Summary of the Symbols	446