Montaigne, by contrast, saw himself as a thoroughly ordinary man in every respect, except for his unusual habit of writing things down. He ‘bears the entire form of the human condition’,24 as everyone does, and is therefore happy to cast himself as a mirror for others – the same role he bestows on the Tupinambá. That is the whole point of the Essays. If no one could recognise themselves in him, why would anyone read him?
