Penguin Essais

The creator of the essay form demonstrates his mastery: reflections between the general and the private, literature and philosophy, the curious and the everyday. "I have not made my book, but my book has made me." At the age of 38, Montaigne retreated to his tower library in the countryside to read and reflect in peace. With immediate freshness and without regard for conventional forms, he wrote about love and friendship, idleness, drunkenness, and dying. Above all, he examined himself to explore his own nature and that of humanity in general. The Essais reveal a keen mind, whose questioning attitude, wisdom, and foresight continue to inspire to this day. "One can leaf through the Essais, read a few pages, and stop again at will, just as Montaigne himself read, as all his best readers did... You get to know him through his book, just as you would get to know your neighbor in life." Herbert Lüthy • The Birth of the Free Essay Form • Philosophy and Literature, the Private, the General, and the Everyday • Now in the world's most famous classic series.