# What Do I Know?: Essential Essays - Hardcover

by **Michel de Montaigne** (Author), **David Coward** (Translator), **Yiyun Li** (Introduction by)

**A fresh new translation of Michel de Montaigne's most profound, searching essays, with an introduction from Yiyun Li, author of _The Book of Goose_**

This gift-worthy collection of 16 essays by "the father of the essay" is a short, accessible introduction to his work, offering a fascinating glimpse inside a great Renaissance mind

"I myself am the subject of my book." So wrote Montaigne in the introductory note to his _Essays_, the book that marked the birth of the modern essay form.

In works of probing intelligence and idiosyncratic observation, Montaigne moved from intimate personal observation to roving theories of the conduct of kings and cannibals, the effects of sorrow and fear, and the fallibility of human memory and judgement.

This new selection of Montaigne's 16 most ingenious essays appears in a lucid new translation by the prize-winning David Coward. _What Do I Know?_ gives the modern reader profound insight into a great Renaissance mind.

_What Do I Know?_ is divided into 3 sections and includes:

MONTAIGNE ON MONTAIGNE  

-   On Sorrow, On how our Actions are to be judged by the Intention, On Idling, On Liars, That we should not be considered happy until we are dead

  
ON THE PURSUIT OF REASON  

-   On Fear, To tell true from false, it is folly to rely on our own capacities, How we can cry and laugh at the same thing, On Solitude, On the Uncertainty of our Judgement, On Drunkenness

  
ON GOVERNANCE AND GOVERNORS  

-   On Cannibals, On the Inequality that exists between us, On Sleep, On our lease of life, On Carriages

### Author Biography

**Michel de Montaigne** (1533-1592) was born on his family estate in Aquitaine, not far from Bordeaux. Raised speaking Greek and Latin, he studied law before embarking on a career of public service, first as a counselor of court in P駻igueux and Bordeaux, then as a courtier to Charles the IX. Following the death of his father, Montaigne retired from public life to the Tower of his ch穰eau to read and write. He published the first two volumes of his landmark _Essays_ in 1580, with a third following in 1588; the complete _Essays_ appeared posthumously in 1595.

**David Coward** is Emeritus Professor of French at the University of Leeds and a translator of many books from the French, including Georges Simenon's Inspector Maigret series and Arthur Cohen's _Belle du Seigneur_, for which he was awarded a Scott Moncrieff Prize.

**Number of Pages:** 256

**Dimensions:** 0.8 x 7.9 x 5.2 IN

**Publication Date:** October 17, 2023

## Details

- **Price:** 24.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 24.00 USD | In stock |

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- What Do I Know?: Essential Essays - Hardcover

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