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Montaigne in Motion

Educated in the humanities and trained in psychiatry, Jean Starobinski is a central figure in the Geneva School of criticism. His classic work, Montaigne in Motion, is a subtly conceived and elegantly written study of the Essais of Montaigne, whose deceptively plainspoken meditations have entranced readers and stimulated philosophers since their first publication in 1580 and 1595.

Here Starobinski offers a decidedly postmodern reading of Montaigne. In chapters dealing with the themes of public and private life, friendship, death, the body, and love, Starobinski reveals much that will remind us that Montaigne’s thought is as apropos to our time as it was to his own.

“The most important contribution to Montaigne studies since Friedrich’s work . . . . [It] will be the critical framework in which scholars will discuss Montaigne in the years to come.”—Choice

 

“Starobinski brings Montaigne to life by treating him as our contemporary and asking him modern questions.”—Hudson Review

 


360 pages | 6 x 9 | © 1985

Literature and Literary Criticism: Romance Languages

Table of Contents

Translator’s preface
Preface
1. "And then, for whom are you writing?"
2. "This mask torn away"
3. "The relation to others"
4. The body’s movement
5. Speaking love
6. "Each man in some sort exists in his work"
7. Concerning "public affairs"
Notes
Index

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