Montaigne

[mal4mac]

[A] Surely Montaigne deserves a forum? [B] Anyone reading Screech's translation? [C] Do you agree they are good translations? [D] There isn't a [D].

[2ndblogger]

a. yes
b. i might look into it..maybe next week..
c. haven't seen yet..no comment..
d. LOL..

[Adagio]

I need to pick up his essays. I am just a bit apprehensive/need some convincing. Convince me! :)

[mal4mac]

You need to pick them up? Then why do I need to convince you? Just be prepared for a good read! And don't let early essays mislead you into thinking all the essays are about military manoeuvres. Start with essays 1, 2, 8, 9 ,10 ,11... if you are interested in Montaigne as a "general thinker about the human condition". There is a "selected essays" that misses out the "military" essays, but (unfortunately) it misses out some really good ones as well. For instance, Montaigne's take on Socrates daemon in essay 11 is essential reading!

Screech's translation is excellent, better than the one by Cohen, but sometimes he gets slightly too scholarly for me. For instance the continual use of [A], [B], [C] to illustrate 1st, 2nd, 3rd edition is slightly irritating. But the actual text itself is "common reader friendly", and you get to ignore the [] after a while. And he provides superb introductions to each essay (again look at essay 11 for an example).

Gore Vidal provides an excellent review:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article3721267.ece

"“In every work of genius”, wrote Emerson, “we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.” After four centuries, Montaigne’s curious genius still has that effect on his readers and, time and again, one finds in his self-portrait one’s own most brilliant aperçus (the ones that somehow we forgot to write down and so forgot) restored to us in his essays – attempts – to assay – value – himself in his own time as well as, if he was on the subject, all time, if there is such a thing."

[blazeofglory]

He was really a great essayist, and matchless indeed and he is the master of modern essays.
And he attained such a height and maturity that he had both ends, art and content.

While some writers are intellectually inclined and others stylistically of course, but the one who is a confluence of both ends is scarce.

The impression he had on me is that while I am always fascinated by his grand style I am equally amazed at the beauty and grandeur of his substance.

I read him as a revolutionary,and revolutionized the art of writing.

[stlukesguild]

1. Surely
2. No
3. Can't judge per answer 2.
4.

The translation I have read is that of Donald Frame which has long been acclaimed and I found to be quite good. He also does some fine translations of other French writers, including Moliere.

[stlukesguild]

The impression he had on me is that while I am always fascinated by his grand style I am equally amazed at the beauty and grandeur of his substance.

Yes... and yet there is a lack of flourish for the sake of flourish... of perfume, if you will. He is very clear and simple in a way. "Simple"... not "simplistic" or "simple-minded". There is a real depth or profundity to his thought... and a sort of pragmatism. He is a writer who has already lived life as an active participant... not a scholar or idealistic intellectual.

[Adagio]

You need to pick them up? Then why do I need to convince you? Just be prepared for a good read! And don't let early essays mislead you into thinking all the essays are about military manoeuvres. Start with essays 1, 2, 8, 9 ,10 ,11... if you are interested in Montaigne as a "general thinker about the human condition". There is a "selected essays" that misses out the "military" essays, but (unfortunately) it misses out some really good ones as well. For instance, Montaigne's take on Socrates daemon in essay 11 is essential reading!
When I say 'need' I mean that I should have already picked up them up but something is keeping me at bay. I also need to pick up Plato's Republic, The Great Gatsby and many more.

Thanks, I will certainly read those essays as soon as I get the time. I will trust your Screech recommendation.

[Barbarous]

The impression he had on me is that while I am always fascinated by his grand style I am equally amazed at the beauty and grandeur of his substance.

Yes... and yet there is a lack of flourish for the sake of flourish... of perfume, if you will. He is very clear and simple in a way. "Simple"... not "simplistic" or "simple-minded". There is a real depth or profundity to his thought... and a sort of pragmatism. He is a writer who has already lived life as an active participant... not a scholar or idealistic intellectual.

Certainly so. I picked up the thick volume of his essays not that long ago, I have yet to delve fully into them yet.

[Whifflingpin]

A Yes
B No, Florio's

[mono]

The translation I have read is that of Donald Frame which has long been acclaimed and I found to be quite good. He also does some fine translations of other French writers, including Moliere.
I read, and own, Donald Frame's translation, too, and still flip through it from time to time, Montaigne's almost random selection of subjects to write of, everything from solitude to war horses and virtue to three good women. Emerson first introduced me to Montaigne, and he has remained one of my favorite thinkers to read, ponder about, and review, particularly his seemingly effortless manner in applying the philosophy of the ancients (everyone from Homer to Virgil and Seneca to Lucretius) to a variety of subjects, his encyclopedia-like knowledge of history (especially Greco-Roman), and his reverence for others. Montaigne's respect for others, as well as his modesty in self-actualization of his intelligence, demonstrates well in the title alone of his most major work during his lifetime, "Apology for Raymond Sebond," a work that critiques the thought of the stated thinker, bringing to light Montaigne's general skepticism, an apology that so politely states "I think you're wrong, and this is why." Not exactly the way Greek peripatetics rudely corrected each other, eh? :lol:
Again, he seems one of the few writers I could never tire of, and that he influenced such other bright thinkers, such as Emerson, Nietzsche, and Rousseau, says enough. Inspired by Montaigne, I have still continued to think of pasting various quotes on the walls of my home, particularly on the ceiling above my desk, as he did - I cannot recall what quote lay above his desk, however - does anyone else?

I need to pick up his essays. I am just a bit apprehensive/need some convincing. Convince me! :)
Besides what I have already typed above, as well as what others have written, too, I could think of recommending few other essayists more. When I think of that term "peace of mind," I think of Montaigne; he had a unique brilliance that I doubt any individual could deny, but balanced it well with a soft-spoken-like attitude that entrances, inspires, and places his readers in an almost serene state of thought. I recall a brief passage from one of his essays:

I set forth notions that are human and my own, simply as human notions considered in themselves, not as determined and decreed by heavenly ordinance and permitting neither doubt nor dispute; matter of opinion, not matter of faith; what I reason out according to me, not what I believe according to God; as children set forth their essays to be instructed, not to instruct; in a lay manner, not clerical.