Montaigne Testi presentati da André Gide

by Michel de Montaigne, André Gide

174 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1992

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

[Arvid Flodin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Om jag skulle beskriva den här boken för nån skulle jag säga följande: Den handlar om en med medeltida mått mätt, gullig gubbe. Det är basically urval ur hans dagbok som tydligen är en helt ny genre. Han skriver mycket om sina bravader som adelsman. Han sitter bara i ett torn o skriver medan hela landet är upptagna med förföljelse av protestanter och inbördeskrig.
Jag glömde nämna att utdragen har valts ut av en kommunist under 40 talet tror jag så det är väll också lite kul. Den har ingen handling och den hoppar från ämne till ämne. Ett ämne kan vara allt från "barn" till "erövringen av Mexiko och Peru" eller "mitt hus utan försvar under inbördeskriget".
Man vet med andra ord aldrig vad som kommer härnäst.
Vad tycker jag då om boken?
Den är ganska bra typ.

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Noi cerchiamo altre condizioni perché non comprendiamo l'uso delle nostre, e usciamo fuori di noi perché non sappiamo che cosa c'è dentro. Così, abbiamo un bel montare sui trampoli, ma anche sui trampoli bisogna camminare con le nostre gambe. E anche sul più alto trono del mondo non siamo seduti che sul nostro culo." (“Dell'esperienza”, Libro III, cap. XIII) p. 174

[Milena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Piccola rilettura di un testo che avevo già scoperto anni fa. L'ho visto in libreria e ho pensato di rispolverare un po' certi insegnamenti mai fuori dal tempo. Non so valutare la selezione di Gide perché non ho mai letto i Saggi completi, ma ho trovato il suo saggio introduttivo molto utile per inquadrare la personalità di Montaigne e il suo valore filosofico.