Montaigne: Selected Essays

"A superb achievement, one that successfully brings together in accessible form the work of two major writers of Renaissance France. This is now the default version of Montaigne in English." —Timothy Hampton, University of California, Berkeley

"Inspired. In every page—beginning with Atkinson's brilliant Introduction—this magical Montaigne betrays a lifetime of meditation on its subject." —Stephen G. Nichols, Johns Hopkins University

SKU
27051g

with La Boétie's Discourse on Voluntary Servitude

Michel de Montaigne
Translated by James B. Atkinson and David Sices
Introduction and Notes by James B. Atkinson

2012 - 410 pp.

Ebook edition available for $11.95, see purchasing links below.

Grouped product items
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Cloth 978-1-60384-596-0
$40.00
Paper 978-1-60384-595-3
$14.00
Instructor Examination (Review) Copy 978-1-60384-595-3
$2.00

"A superb achievement, one that successfully brings together in accessible form the work of two major writers of Renaissance France. This is now the default version of Montaigne in English."
     —Timothy Hampton, Professor of French and Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley

"Inspired. In every page—beginning with Atkinson's brilliant Introduction—this magical Montaigne betrays a lifetime of meditation on its subject."  
     —Stephen G. Nichols, James M. Beall Professor Emeritus of French and Humanities, Johns Hopkins University

"The translators pull off the difficult trick of capturing the whole spectrum of Montaigne’s voices. . . .  A thorough, engaging, and wholly readable translation, whose rich and informative guidance for the non-specialist will also be of use for academic readers and teachers of the period."
     —William McKenzie, St. Hilda’s College, Oxford (adapted from MLR)

"Excellent textual apparatus. Those reading Montaigne for the first time will be well supported."
     —Megan Gallagher, UCLA, in (adapted from Comitatus

"The inclusion of La Boétie's Discourse truly sets this new translation apart. If La Boétie's thesis does not resonate with today's undergraduates, then we should all truly begin to despair…. Highly recommended."
     —Michael Wolfe, St. John’s University (adapted from Sixteenth Century Journal)

 

Contents

Translators’ Preface
Introduction
  Two Thinkers for Our Time
  Montaigne and His Time
  Montaigne the Essayist
  Étienne de La Boétie and His Time
  Montaigne and La Boétie
  Montaigne, La Boétie, and the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude
  La Boétie and the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude
  Saying No to a Friend

Michel de Montaigne, Selected Essays

To the Reader

BOOK I
  1. By Differing Means We Attain the Same End
  8. Idleness
  20 [19]. Through Philosophy We Learn How to Die
  21 [20]. The Power of the Imagination
  26 [25]. The Education of Children
  28 [27]. Friendship
  31 [30]. The Cannibals
  39 [38]. Solitude
  50. Democritus and Heraclitus

BOOK II
  6. Practice
  11. Cruelty
  17. Being Presumptuous
  18. Correcting
  28. To Every Thing There Is a Season
  30. A Malformed Child

BOOK III
  2. Repenting
  12. Physiognomy
  13. Experience

Étienne de La Boétie, Discourse on Voluntary Servitude

Endnotes
Index

 

About the Authors:

James B. Atkinson is an independent scholar. David Sices is Professor Emeritus of French and Italian, Dartmouth College. Their free-standing translation of La Boétie’s Discourse on Voluntary Servitude and their edited translation The Comedies of Machiavelli are also published by Hackett.