WHAT DO I KNOW?

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 ca