1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910454128203321

Autore

O'Neill John <1933->

Titolo

Essaying Montaigne [[electronic resource] ] : a study of the Renaissance institution of writing and reading / / John O'Neill

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Liverpool, : Liverpool University Press, 2001

ISBN

1-78138-647-1

1-84631-305-8

Edizione

[2nd ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (266 p.)

Collana

Studies in social and political thought ; ; 5

Disciplina

844.3

Soggetti

Authors and readers - France - History - 16th century

Books and reading - France - History - 16th century

French essays - History and criticism

Renaissance - France

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-260) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Title Page; Contents; Preface to the revised edition; To the Reader; 1: Society and Self-study: the Problem of Literary Authority; 2: Literary Anxiety and the Romance of Books; 3: Rival Readings; 4: Writing and Embodiment; 5: Reading and Temperament; 6: The Paradox of Communication: Reading the Essays Otherwise; 7: Portrait of the Essayist Without Qualities; 8: On Public and Private Life; 9: Civilisation, Literacy and Barbarism; 10: On Living and Dying as We Do; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Sommario/riassunto

John O'Neill reads Montaigne's Essays from their central principle of friendship as a communicative and pedagogical practice operative in society, literature and politics. The friendship between Montaigne and La Boétie was ruled neither by plenitude nor lack but by a capacity for recognition and transitivity. As an essayist Montaigne is an exemplary practitioner of a technique of difference and recognition that puts all certainties of history, philosophy and culture in the balance of weighted comparison. The essayist reveals how every absolute subjectivity or authority is shaken by its interna