Synopses & Reviews
A lavish hardcover collectors edition of one of the most influential works ever written
How to get along with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you lovesuch questions arise in most peoples lives. They are all versions of a bigger question: How do you live? This question obsessed Renaissance writers, none more than Michel de Montaigne, who wrote free-roaming explorations of his thoughts and experiences unlike anything written before, and in the process invented the genre of the essay.
Montaigne influenced many of the worlds greatest writers, from Shakespeare to Rousseau to Emerson to Christopher Hitchens, and readers still come to him more than four hundred years later in search of companionship, wisdom, and entertainmentand in search of themselves.
This beautiful, oversized, deluxe edition of Essaysbound in gold-lettered cloth, complete with a ribbon bookmark and full-sized facsimiles of Montaignes first folio pagesdeserves to stand as a centerpiece in any personal library.
Synopsis
For the true bibliophile and design-savvy book lover, here is the next set of Penguin's celebrated Great Ideas series by some of history's most innovative thinkers. Acclaimed for their striking and elegant package, each volume features a unique type-driven design that highlights the bookmaker's art. Offering great literature and great design at great prices, this series is ideal for readers who want to explore and savor the Great Ideas that have shaped our world. Synopsis
Written in the literary style of the French Renaissance, "On Solitude" is de Montaigne's stoic reflection on living a life of imagination and virtue.
About the Author
Michel Eyquem, Seigneur de Montaigne, was born in 1533, the son and heir of Pierre, Seigneur de Montaigne (two previous children dying soon after birth). He was brought up to speak Latin as his mother tongue and always retained a Latin turn of mind; though he knew Greek, he preferred to use translations. After studying law he eventually became counselor to the Parlement of Bordeaux. He married in 1565. In 1569 he published his French version of the Natural Theology of Raymond Sebond; his Apology is only partly a defense of Sebond and sets skeptical limits to human reasoning about God, man and nature. He retired in 1571 to his lands at Montaigne, devoting himself to reading and reflection and to composing his Essays (first version, 1580). He loathed the fanaticism and cruelties of the religious wars of the period, but sided with Catholic orthodoxy and legitimate monarchy. He was twice elected Mayor of Bordeaux (1581 and 1583), a post he held for four years. He died at Montaigne (1592) while preparing the final, and richest, edition of his Essays.