Journal Entry “OF BOOKS”

MICHEL de MONTAIGNE

Montaigne was a 15th century Essayist. Lopate thinks that Montaigne may have been the greatest essayist who ever lived. He came from wealth on both his mother and father’s side. Montaigne father raised him to speak only Latin for the first six years of his life. This was to insure his lifelong attachment to classical literature. He studied law and practiced it until he was thirty-eight years old. Reading Montaigne I could not help but wonder if the elements of a personal essay was not taken from his structure of his essays.
He was a pure radical; he wrote what he actually thought about not what he was supposed to think. This works for me. Lopate writes, Montaigne is not always “politically correct,” but he did have the courage to think things out for himself. He has many attributes an Essayist that I like and will emulate. Part of his success was his ability to see himself as an average human being in spite of his vast amount of education and wealth. One of his most radical practices was to follow his thoughts no matter where they led him.
In the essay “Of Books” Montaigne, said “ If I encounter difficulties in reading, I do not gnaw my nails over them; I leave them there, after making one of two attacks on the. -What I do not see at the first attack, I see less by persisting. I do nothing without gaiety.” This is exactly how I approach my reading. But when I have an assigned reading and this happens I persevere through it but it still becomes painful to do.
Like Montaigne, I too want only to become wiser-and for a writer to begin with the conclusion and make their point. Overall, I like Montaigne frankness, transparency and his allowance to see what he is thinking whether it is politically correct or not.