Montaigne (Pushkin Collection)

Very well written and thoughtful biography of Montaigne. I found Zweig's tone quite appropriate for our modern times, and his lively and humane approach to his subject great enhanced my appreciation for Montaigne. This is one of those biographies that is a viable work of literature that also serves to elucidate and reveal its subject in a most pleasing way.

I am glad I had the fortune to select this book. I now know more of this man, Montaigne, and had a pleasant experience learning it. Far from being dry and detail oriented, the author took special care to describe the qualities of the man that made him an important figure in history.

Stefan Zweig’s short biography of Michel de Montaigne is clarifying in the best sense. I first read Montaigne’s Essays many years ago, but Zweig places them — and Montaigne himself — firmly in historical, political, and human context. The Wars of Religion, the instability of the age, the inward turn of a man seeking sanity amid fanaticism — all of it comes into focus. Zweig’s account is succinct and lucid, yet deeply sympathetic. He helps us see Montaigne not as a timeless voice floating above history, but as a thinker forged by it. Finishing this book, I felt not only a renewed desire to return to Montaigne, but a strong pull to read more Zweig — his other biographies but also HIS biography.

I ordered it more for Stephan Zweig than Montaigne. Zweig's presentation gave me a better understanding of Montaigne. Why he wrote in the way he did. Why he focused on certain topics. Also, re-awakened me to the woman that helped edit his Essays: Marie Le Jars de Gournay.

amazing discovery to read this book

Thank you to Pushkin Collection for re-publishing Stefan Zweig's biography of Montaigne. Zweig's personal, somewhat casual, yet highly informed style of writing for biography totally engaged me in Montaigne's life and also led me to a renewed wish to read the Essays sooner rather than later. In this current age of vile and petty discourse, I enjoyed the call to searching for "knowing the self." Very little of this is in evidence in the public forum today leaving Montaigne's wish for solitude so understandable. Also his wish for travel in order to know as many people and customs different from himself and those he already knew as possible. Those who have read other of Sweig's biographies will not be surprised at the lack of citations for quotes in the text. I noted the lack of footnotes in Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman. While at first this may have irked me in this latter book, I grew not to mind it at all. And in Montaigne it really did not bother me as I knew that the source was Montaigne unless another source was mentioned, such as a letter from the king. I am only mentioning this as it is a Zweig quirk, not a publishing error. I highly recommend this as a brief and engaging introduction to the life of Montaigne and a glimpse into the Essays. What better service can a biography provide than to whet the appetite for the works of its subject. A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

The best book to quickly know about Montagne.

Good book