OLLI-LITR-6141 - Meet Michel de Montaigne: The Inventor of the Personal Essay

Course Description

This course will sample the work of a remarkable personality, Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), sometimes called the inventer of the personal essay. Montaigne said that if he had been born in a country where clothing was not required, he would have depicted himself naked. As it is, he paints the portrait of a man in whom we can see ourselves, faults and all. We will read three of his essays. In the essay “On the Education of Children” we will encounter Montaigne’s startling originality. We will watch him stare his own mortality in the face in the essay “Of Practice”, and we will appreciate his mature judgement in the essay “To Philosophize is to Prepare to Die”. The instructor will offer a few details of Montaigne’s life as a lawyer and diplomat, but the focus will be on the essays. The course will use a highly readable modern translation by Donald Frame. The Complete Essays of Montaigne, translated by Donald Frame, in the paperback first edition ISBN10: 0804704856 or the reprint ISBN13: 9780804704854.