Wow, what a great read. For the past week I have been taken away to meet, get to know and respect this amazing man of words, Michel Montaigne. If you are anything like me you might not have a clue who he was. Well he was born in 1533 near to Bordeaux, France and he was the first ever blogger. He wrote over 103 essays and invented the word. (essay not blog.) But these essays were far from boring they were his thoughts, warts and all. They were all encompassing one question, how to live? ( a direct French translation because there isn't really a good English one.) he poured his heart out and wrote rambling, personal essays on things such as How not to be drawn into a pointless argument. How to protect your house. What do you say when your dog wants to play and you want to write. He wrote about canabilism, smells , coaches and thumbs. Any oddity really which came into his mind he wrote about it. ( but the titles were deceptive, often hardly anything in the title was covered.)
Well this book is not his essays but about him, his life, the times he lived in, the writers through time who admired him ( including Shakespeare) the Catholic Church which banned his essays for over 200 years, the mad ISIS like world of religious war he lived through,his travels, his kidney stones, his tower he wrote in, his love for his friend who died of plague, his crazy childhood where he was bought up by peasants for 3 years and then suddenly transported to the upper class protected life where people could only speak Latin to him and he was woken up in the morning by lute players.
All respect to Sarah Bakewell she definitely remains in the wings writing this book but she is so damn clever splitting the book into 20 different chapters which are the basis of how Montaigne tried to live his life. Sarah Bakewell in this book attempts to answer Montaigne's question of 'how to live ' as she thinks best fits him. And to be honest, she does a fine job!
Of his own addition he was neither very intelligent, nor hardworking but my god, he poured his soul out into his essays and this is what people love so much about him, his absolute honesty and his ability to put himself into the footsteps of other people. Not only did he try to view things from other people's perspective but also from an alien view. Infact it was his writings on animals which got him banned on the Catholic reading list until the 1850s!
Reading this book both relaxed me and comforted me. It made me laugh and cry because basically all the crap in the world is a cycle. If anyone lived through bad times, Montaigne did but he managed somehow to keep a clear head and kept things downright human. Reading what he put down on paper makes you realise how the basics of good and bad human relationships haven't changed at all much over time. ( well, ok people aren't ripped to pieces anymore on a wheel here in Europe) To be honest I'd much rather Montaigne were alive today so I could vote for him in six weeks' time. He'd do a grand job in parliament. Ok, he came from a wealthy family but his life was far from easy and the best thing is he wrote down EVERYTHING! giving just support and belief to people in themselves in this mad world, and inspiration to countless writers.
I don't think I'll read the essays yet, but one day I will. I'm sure they will infuriate me with their ramblings and archaic waffling on. But Sarah Bakewell has given me a perfect introduction to a 16th century French blogger, the Greeks and Romans who inspired him,and the later people,who in turn, were both inspired and infuriated by him. Fab read!
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