The Autobiography of Michel de Montaigne

by Michel de Montaigne, Marvin Lowenthal (Editor)

s/t: Compromising the Life of the Wisest Man of His Times: His Childhood, Youth, and Prime; His Adventures in Love
Everyone acknowledges the Essays of Michel de Montaigne as one of the glories of civilized thought. But in this volume, Marvin Lowenthal has drawn from his letters, essays, travel writings, and manuscripts to create a biography of his life told in his own words, thereby fulfilling Montaigne s intention of presenting his self-portrait to the world. For it was Montaigne who wrote, My book and I are one, and into his writing he poured the amazing varieties of his perceptions, his unflinching powers of observation and analysis, and his deeply felt love of humanity in all its messy contrariness. Above his desk, on a beam on his ceiling, were inscribed the words nihil humani alieni mihi puto : nothing human is alien to me and nothing was, for into his writing he distilled his tender heart and biting wit, his nonsense and wisdom, his passions and his hates. By collecting and arranging these autobiographical passages into a unified whole, Lowenthal has framed a complete portrait in this rich and rewarding book. All of Montaigne is here: his adventures and love affairs, his marriage, travels, tastes, and opinions. Seldom has so much wit, wisdom, and pure entertainment been packed into a single volume.

Genres: Philosophy, Biography, Autobiography, Nonfiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1532-1592) was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. Montaigne is known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. He became famous for his effortless ability to merge serious intellectual speculation with casual anecdotes and autobiography—and his massive volume Essais (translated literally as "Attempts") contains, to this day, some of the most widely influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers the world over, from William Shakespeare to René Descartes, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Stephan Zweig, from Friedrich Nietzsche to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He was a conservative and earnest Catholic but, as a result of his anti-dogmatic cast of mind, he is considered the father, alongside his contemporary and intimate friend Étienne de La Boétie, of the "anti-conformist" tradition in French literature.

In his own time, Montaigne was admired more as a statesman then as an author. The tendency in his essays to digress into anecdotes and personal ruminations was seen as detrimental to proper style rather than as an innovation, and his declaration that, "I am myself the matter of my book", was viewed by his contemporaries as self-indulgent. In time, however, Montaigne would be recognized as embodying, perhaps better than any other author of his time, the spirit of freely entertaining doubt which began to emerge at that time. He is most famously known for his skeptical remark, "Que sais-je?" ("What do I know?").

Remarkably modern even to readers today, Montaigne's attempt to examine the world through the lens of the only thing he can depend on implicitly—his own judgment—makes him more accessible to modern readers than any other author of the Renaissance. Much of modern literary nonfiction has found inspiration in Montaigne, and writers of all kinds continue to read him for his masterful balance of intellectual knowledge and personal storytelling.

Reviews

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lowenthal has constructed an interesting pseudo-autobiography of Montaigne by picking snippets of his essays/travel writings and organizing them into theme-based chapters. Actually interesting, and it does inspire this reader to go back to the original essays(which, unfortunately, are not always as nicely organized).

[Godine Publisher & Black Sparrow Press · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A country-gentleman of the days of Henry III, who was a wise man in a century of ignorance, a philosopher in an age of fanatics, and who painted in the guise of himself our own follies and frailties, is a man who will be loved forever."
— Voltaire

"Montaigne is really the first modern writer — the first who showed that an author might be original and charming, even classical, if he did not try too hard."
— James Russell Lowell

"Montaigne is the frankest and honestest of all writers... He had the genius to make the reader care for all that he cares for... I know not anywhere the book that seems less written — cut these words and they would bleed."
— Emerson

"That such a man has written truly increases the pleasure of living... It is by his side I would range myself if I had to acclimate myself to this world."
— Nietzsche

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the line "I prefer to forge my mind, not furnish it." It is going on my inspiration chalkboard. In this chopped up "autobiography" Montaigne manages to comes through -- funny, insecure, profound, pompous, honest, contradictory and hilarious, but I think I would have done better to just read his essays. The thematic clumping, in roughly chronological order is a little forced, as you might suspect. The book can't do justice to the natural directions his rambly mind takes, and every time I wanted to follow him down a path I was made to jump to another, on and on, paragraph after paragraph.

[James Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When I am at home, I am more often than not in my library"
So opens the tenth of thirty-four chapters that comprise this "auto-biography" based on Michel de Montaigne's own essais. His is the story of a life lived by focusing on living rather than dying. Even so, one of his best and most eloquent essays was 'To philosophize is to Learn to Die'. Following Plato's Phaedo and his depiction of the death of Socrates one could learn from this the best way to live.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is good stuff. A charming philosopher with a modern look at civilization and culture. I recommend it because although he is highly educated and intelligent he brings up strong reservations about the benefits of having a mind vs. the purity of true animal instinct.

[Vann · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty cool old dude from france or something

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michel De Montaigne, in his "Essays", sought to honestly appraise himself and his life. I found it refreshing to hear a man speak so candidly of his own thoughts and feelings.

[Robert Paglia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasure to read, beautifully printed and bound.