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Stunning paperback edition of this fresh translation of Montaigne's most profound, searching essays, with an introduction from Yiyun Li, author of The Book of Goose This gift-worthy collection of 16 essays by "the father of the essay" is a short, accessible introduction to his work, offering a fascinating glimpse inside a great Renaissance mind
"I myself am the subject of my book." So wrote Montaigne in the introductory note to his Essays, the book that marked the birth of the modern essay form. In works of probing intelligence and idiosyncratic observation, Montaigne moved from intimate personal observation to roving theories of the conduct of kings and cannibals, the effects of sorrow and fear, and the fallibility of human memory and judgement.
This new selection of Montaigne's 16 most ingenious essays appears in a lucid new translation by the prize-winning David Coward.
What Do I Know? gives the modern reader profound insight into a great Renaissance mind.
What Do I Know? is divided into 3 sections and includes:
MONTAIGNE ON MONTAIGNE
On Sorrow, On how our Actions are to be judged by the Intention, On Idling, On Liars, That we should not be considered happy until we are dead
ON THE PURSUIT OF REASON
On Fear, To tell true from false, it is folly to rely on our own capacities, How we can cry and laugh at the same thing, On Solitude, On the Uncertainty of our Judgement, On Drunkenness
ON GOVERNANCE AND GOVERNORS
On Cannibals, On the Inequality that exists between us, On Sleep, On our lease of life, On Carriages
About the author
Yiyun Li (b. 1972) is a prize-winning short story writer and novelist. Named by Granta as one of the 21 Best Young American Novelists in 2007, her work has won her the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, The PEN/Hemingway Award and the California Book Award. She lives and teaches in California.
