Essays by Michel de Montaigne The
Essays (French:
Essais, pronounced [esɛ]) of Michel de Montaigne are contained in three books and 107 chapters of varying length.
They were originally written in Middle French and were originally published in the Kingdom of France. Montaigne’s stated design in writing, publishing and revising the
Essays over the period from approximately 1570 to 1592 was to record ‘some traits of my character and of my humours.’ The
Essays were first published in 1580 and cover a wide range of topics.
Montaigne’s stated goal in his book is to describe himself with utter frankness and honesty (‘
bonne foi’). The insight into human nature provided by his essays, for which they are so widely read, is merely a by-product of his introspection.
Though the implications of his essays were profound and far-reaching, he did not intend or suspect that his work would garner much attention outside of his inner circle, prefacing his essays with, ‘I am myself the matter of this book; you would be unreasonable to suspend your leisure on so frivolous and vain a subject.’
Montaigne’s essay topics spanned the entire spectrum of the profound to the trivial, with titles ranging from ‘Of Sadness and Sorrow’ and ‘Of Conscience’ to ‘Of Smells’ and ‘Of Posting’ (referring to posting letters). Montaigne wrote at a time preceded by Catholic and Protestant ideological tension.
Christianity in the 15th and 16th centuries saw Protestant authors consistently attempting to subvert Church doctrine with their own reason and scholarship. Consequently, Catholic scholars embraced skepticism as a means to discredit all reason and scholarship and accept Church doctrine through faith alone.
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