Spend some enjoyable time with Michel de Montaigne

If you could sum up The Complete Essays of Montaigne in three words, what would they be?

Meet yourself here.

What other book might you compare The Complete Essays of Montaigne to and why?

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

Both are long, basically autobiographical works. Though Proust is writing a novel, and Montaigne essays (the form he is credited with initiating), both move through the lives, experiences and reflections of the writers referencing contemporary historical events and social environments. The books share a fearless intimacy relative to personal habits, tastes and psychological states as well as generalizations about the nature of humankind.

Surprising to me, both works are quite funny in parts.

What does Christopher Lane bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Christopher Lane is an excellent reader. It's great to listen to the essays while doing menial tasks or relaxing at the end of the day.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

An utter delight for fans of eight hour films

Any additional comments?

Experts seem to concur that Donald Frame's is the best English language translation.

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A conversation with a genius!

Where does The Complete Essays of Montaigne rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

As much as I have enjoyed so many audible titles, this is by far the best of all. I will always look back on 2012-13 as my year with Montaigne. I have every intention of picking up a copy of this work (in this translation) as a permanent fixture on my desk.

What did you like best about this story?

Montaigne and I may have some philosophical and thrological disagreements on details but he is the most pleasant of companions.

What about Christopher Lane’s performance did you like?

Throughout the work, Mr Lane allowed Montaigne speak through him

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LIFE AND DEATH

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, a sixteenth century philosopher and writer, wrote and re-wrote “Essays”, originally published in the 1580s. Essay was a new form of writing in the sixteenth century. Montaigne’s subject is the philosophy of life and death.

Montaigne writes his collection of essays while cloistered in a château in southwest France. Donald Frame translates and compiles three volumes of Montaigne’ essays into one book–“The Complete Essays of Montaigne”, first published in 1957. One of the benefits of Frame’s translation is in asides that clarify meaning, place, and person.

Montaigne, born into a family of wealth, affords the luxury of time for personal reflection and contemplation. Aristotle wrote that life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation. In one sense, this quiet life is a weakness in Montaigne’s philosophy. Montaigne reflects on history and ancient times to explain how life should be lived when his life seems a shadow of most people’s reality, the reality of a day-to-day fight for survival. There is reader skepticism about Montaigne’s philosophy based on a 1% versus 99% life of most people. The irony of that skepticism is that Montaigne is consider by some to be the father of skepticism; i.e. believing nothing is proven true by the senses.

"The Complete Essays of Montaigne" is only a brief introduction to a person that lived as one of those rare human beings that "...have a superior perception of reality." If one has a spare 40 hours to listen, "The Complete Essays of Montaigne" offers some fine human insight.

17 people found this helpful

A lifetime companion

I do not advise making this your only book for a while. Download the essays chapter by chapter, listen to one here, one there. They are great contemplations, full of spice, and wonder, and charm, and folk stories. I am still greatly adoring to know that French school girls were told not to play hopscotch or their inner manhood equipment might fall out of their lady regions and they would be boys- wow! People were so inventive with their bullplop. Our quacks should take lessons, the crap our senators and health wonder pill spinsters come out with is so tedious and common by comparison! Montaigne is great to relax to, great to muse over, and the narrator simply feels like the man himself, conjured by seance. I cannot praise him highly enough. A masterful, perfect production from all sides and accounts. I have more to go through, and some of the essays are tedious or stray, but hey, the man invented the essay and this sort of book. Certainly something any ponderer or intelligent person should take time to peruse a little at the very least in their lifetime. Let's not make a dali lhama of Montaigne though. He was not a world-altering genius or anything. This will enrich your life, probably not change it.

50 people found this helpful

Stands next to the Bible and M.A.'s Meditations

For me the greatest approbation for a book I've just read is a simple declaration that this is a book I'll read again, and perhaps one that I'll read regularly. This is a desert island work for sure. It (for me) fits into the same mental shelf space as Marcus Aurelius' Meditations or Herodotus' The Histories or Adams' The Education of Henry Adams. Some pieces of nonfiction should probably be considered a type of humanist sacred-text. One more book I've got to grab if the house is on fire. One more book I will forever be buying extra copies of so I can fop them off on unprepared friends.

51 people found this helpful

Excellent

If you like Shakespeare you'll love Montaigne. Excellent choice or narrator for Montaigne, and a good modern translation.

19 people found this helpful

Easy listening for anyone anywhere

Even thought The Essay was written several hundred years ago. It remains a philosophical guidebook for a fair minded approach in life in the 21st century. The wisdom of Montaigne is tinkling with humors throughout, wonderfully translated by Donald Frame and lively narrated by Lane, all together made this audio book an easy listening for everyone, including non-English listeners.

6 people found this helpful

Timeless and relevant

This audio version is a huge investment of time. I spaced it out over a few months. The narration is the best of all audiobooks I have listened to so far. One gets the sense of listening to a wise friend from centuries ago. I read different English translations of some chapters to aid my understanding. This translation is superior. Montaigne lived a full rich life and gave us the gift of his unashamed inner thoughts. His knowledge of the ancients is astounding. More so, his ability to place context relevant to his time and ours is inspired and inspiring. My only regret is that I wish I had read this earlier in life. Then again the wisdom might have been lost on the younger me. Well worth the time spent and a bargain at twice the price.

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Incredible

Simply perfect all the way around. The voice, the author, and the translator couple not have been more perfectly married together to product this audible masterpiece.

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If you love Montaigne...

If you love Montaigne, then this review won't matter. All you need to know is that this is a great recording. Go for it (Lucretius).

If you don't know Montaigne, think about getting a book about him or his work. Hit the highlights. Check out a few summaries. Then decide if you're ready for fifty hours of Montaigne. Because we're talking about fifty hours of Montaigne here! That's a lot of Montaigne. I am thinking that if you were to compile every minute of Montaigne talking about his bodily functions or specifics of his anatomy, you'd basically have an audiobook the size of Moby Dick. Pun very intended (Seneca). Or, as another reviewer wisely wrote, take in a little bit of this at a time. Why don't I ever read wise reviewers before I listen? Taken altogether a life's work may seem hypocritical or contradictory even though it just reflects a change of perception that comes naturally with age.

What you're actually getting here is a kind of offbeat free-association of a very intelligent, profoundly eloquent, morbidly verbose and extraordinarily dead man. It is often funny, insightful, hyperbolic, and a little gross. As a life's work it is a masterpiece. As an audiobook, taken in one sitting, it was... pretty good.

6 people found this helpful