The Complete Works (Everyman's Library)

i'll leave the other reviews to describe the substance of montaigne's book and his unique place in literature -- a favorite read of shakespeare and emerson -- and focus instead on the merits of this edition. this is the single best volume to own if you want to encounter the skeptical and humanist montaigne in english.i am a fluent reader in the middle french of montaigne's text and own the "old" bibliothèque de la pléiade edition of his complete works. i'll say categorically that donald frame's translation is superior both to the older version by charles cotton and william hazlitt (pleasing for its antiquarian savor, but a hard slog for the average reader) and the recent versions by j.m. cohen and m.a. screech (both in paperback from penguin books). frame is much more accurate than all the others at reproducing montaigne's virile, brusque and improvisatory sentence structures, and best captures his lively and pregnant contrasts in the choice of vulgar, colloquial, informal, formal and ironically fussy expressions.all translations (and, in fact, almost all french editions) modernize the text in various ways. translations break up montaigne's longer paragraphs, and use periods to separate the sentences strung together with semicolons, but frame is the least drastic with these and other "modernizing" changes, and best conveys the subtle changes in tempo that are characteristic of montaigne's style.every edition of a "classical" text depends in part on a critical apparatus to clarify the historical period and the author's references to other works. the everyman editions are exemplary in choosing a noted authority to write the general introduction (here, the philosopher stuart hampshire) and in providing a synoptic chronology of the author's life with parallel columns for the literary context and historical events. the translator (frame) has penned a brief introduction explaining the history of the text, which evolved through additions and deletions across three major versions. these changes are indicated by superscript letters (A, B or C) which are essential in any edition of montaigne, as the later changes often take the train of thought into unexpected tangents, personal disclosures, or reconsidered opinions. (these comments apply to the "bordeaux" edition accepted as the definitive french text when frame made his translation, although frame also includes material from the posthumous de gournay edition, an advanced critical decision at the time.)finally, this edition is handsomely yet inexpensively produced with a sewn binding under hard covers in slate blue cloth (a ribbon placeholder is part of the binding), and is printed on creamy, firm paper in an accessibly large type face. you will very likely want montaigne to accompany you across your life and this is an edition that will withstand both time, frequent reading, and your own mark ups and annotations.unfortunately, there is in this edition no index to proper names or topics (unlike the original frame edition published by stanford university press). and this is not truly a *complete* edition of montaigne, as it omits the notations he made to the "ephemerides" of beuther, and the 57 latin and greek quotations that montaigne had engraved on the ceiling beams of his tower library. these classical aphorisms are something like an outline of his personal philosophy -- the single greek word "epekho" or "i suspend my judgment" perhaps summarizes them all. and this edition lacks citations to the original latin, greek and french works quoted inline by montaigne: it is annoying to stumble upon a remarkable quotation from juvenal, seneca, cicero, or plutarch, and not be able to locate the original version. these quibbles aside, this is a beautifully translated and handsomely produced edition of a remarkable and truly stimulating landmark in the genre of biographically informed philosophical essay.i strongly encourage readers who enjoy montaigne to look into sarah bakewell's superb recent biography, "How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer", which is available at amazon and uses the pagination of this everyman edition to reference quotations from montaigne's essays, journal and letters.

I was suddenly taken with the idea of reading Montaigne. I had purchased Sarah Bakewell's biography of Montaigne and decided to read the man himself. I already owned a copy of the Essays in my venerable old set of the Great Books of the Western World and set about to reading. Very tough going. Then I did some research on the translation I had and found that it was done by and Englishman named Cotton in the late 17th century and the revised in the early 19th century by the famous essayist William Hazlitt. Add to the fact that Montaigne wrote in middle French (16th century) and had a style of writing in which he employed very long sentences. Cotton attempted to do justice to this, but produced a convoluted and difficult to follow translation. I once read Montaigne in the original while taking a French literature class. Even if you are fluent in modern French, middle French is very difficult with archaic verb tenses and vocabulary.I bring all this up because it sent me on a quest for a more modern translation. This one, by Frame, was done in the 1950's, but it is much more readable. There are other modern translations, but this one has gotten the best reviews. There are some academic criticisms of it which I won't go into because they are of academic interest only.Why read Montaigne? He has a surprisingly modern voice. He could have written some of the essays yesterday instead of nearly 500 years ago. He has much to tell us about how to live. He also pretty much invented the essay as a literary form. The essays are refreshing, sometimes humorous, other times very serious, but never boring. They are short. You can read most in a few minutes.Turn of the TV, get off the net and read a book by someone who really has something to say that will, just possibly, change your life.

This book was recommended by Hugh Hewitt (radio talk show host). I knew nothing of Montaigne. Hugh recommended it.Montaigne writes his philosophical thoughts on events from his life (16th Century). I am surprised by how much I have enjoyed his insights. He is a good philosopher and has a great perspective on historical insights. He does not incorporate the Bible much. But he tells stories well and the translation is easy to read. If you like philosophy and historical topics, I would highly recommend Montaigne.

I had heard so much about this book and I was really looking forward to reading it. Well, I'll be reading it for a long while, because like a wonderful meal, this book is not to be gulped down in wolf bites, it is to be savored. It is like sending your mind for a stroll on the beach in parts, but sometimes it feels like a challenging literary hike. Montaigne speaks to us as equals and uses history and literature, politics and draws on the full range of his experiences and education, all the time engaging us as if we were his closest confidants. This book makes you think, at times deeply. Sometimes he says something so unexpected that it stops you in your tracks and you have to read it again to make sure you read it right. Sometimes it is laugh out loud funny. If Mark Twain would have written without caring whether anyone read his writing or not; If he had written just to express himself to himself, he might very well have written essays like these. Twain made his living by making people laugh. Michel De Montaigne does not care whether you laugh or not, he does not even care if you read his essays. Writing them was what gave him pleasure. Reading his Complete Works is a pleasure I'll be enjoying for a long time.