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A review by casparb
The Complete Essays by Michel de Montaigne
3.0
This is a 1200+ page brick, so it is with some relief that I put it on the shelf. In all honesty, I cannot recommend this complete version - there's a 400-500 page selected edition that would be a better use of time.
Something that soon strikes the reader of this mammoth project is that Montaigne could have used a good editor. I'm sure that inventing the form of the essay (cheers Mike) complicates this, but a deft hand could have easily halved the length of many of these essays.
Now that the whining is out of the way - praise! I've never encountered a better contemporary insight into Renaissance thought and its development from the ancients. I was particularly surprised by how un-prudish it is: Montaigne is perfectly willing to discuss sex and peripheral activities (including, in detail, his own preferences). I had a great time learning about female semen.
When the collection is this large, they can't all be winners. It took about 1000 pages for them to really pick up for me - I'm aware that this may be off-putting for some. But when they do - there is little so human in the world.
Something that soon strikes the reader of this mammoth project is that Montaigne could have used a good editor. I'm sure that inventing the form of the essay (cheers Mike) complicates this, but a deft hand could have easily halved the length of many of these essays.
Now that the whining is out of the way - praise! I've never encountered a better contemporary insight into Renaissance thought and its development from the ancients. I was particularly surprised by how un-prudish it is: Montaigne is perfectly willing to discuss sex and peripheral activities (including, in detail, his own preferences). I had a great time learning about female semen.
When the collection is this large, they can't all be winners. It took about 1000 pages for them to really pick up for me - I'm aware that this may be off-putting for some. But when they do - there is little so human in the world.