A fresh new translation of Michel de Montaigne's most profound,
searching essays, with an introduction from Yiyun Li, author of The
Book of Goose
This gift-worthy collection of 16 essays by "the father of the essay" is
a short, accessible introduction to his work, offering a fascinating
glimpse inside a great Renaissance mind
"I myself am the subject of my book." So wrote Montaigne in the
introductory note to his Essays, the book that marked the birth of the
modern essay form.
In works of probing intelligence and idiosyncratic observation,
Montaigne moved from intimate personal observation to roving theories of
the conduct of kings and cannibals, the effects of sorrow and fear, and
the fallibility of human memory and judgement.
This new selection of Montaigne's 16 most ingenious essays appears in a
lucid new translation by the prize-winning David Coward. What Do I
Know? gives the modern reader profound insight into a great Renaissance
mind.
What Do I Know? is divided into 3 sections and includes:
MONTAIGNE ON MONTAIGNE
-
On Sorrow, On how our Actions are to be judged by the Intention, On
Idling, On Liars, That we should not be considered happy until we are
dead
ON THE PURSUIT OF REASON
-
On Fear, To tell true from false, it is folly to rely on our own
capacities, How we can cry and laugh at the same thing, On Solitude,
On the Uncertainty of our Judgement, On Drunkenness
ON GOVERNANCE AND GOVERNORS
- On Cannibals, On the Inequality that exists between us, On Sleep, On
our lease of life, On Carriages
