Misplaced Pages

#311688

41-518: The Essais exercised an important influence on both French and English literature , in thought and style. Montaigne wrote in a seemingly conversational or informal style that combines a highly literate vocabulary with popular sayings and local slang. The earlier essays are more formal and structured and sometimes quite short ("Of prognostications"), but later essays, and revisions to the essays in later editions, are longer and more complex. In his later style he freely associates one topic with another in

82-516: A Nobel Prize in Literature : Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( / ˈ t aɪ t ə s l uː ˈ k r iː ʃ ə s / TY -təs loo- KREE -shəs , Latin: [ˈtitus luˈkreːti.us ˈkaːrus] ; c.  99  – c.  55 BC ) was a Roman poet and philosopher . His only known work is the philosophical poem De rerum natura , a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism , which usually

123-954: A lesser extent on the Eclogues ) and Horace . The work was almost lost during the Middle Ages , but was rediscovered in 1417 in a monastery in Germany by Poggio Bracciolini and it played an important role both in the development of atomism (Lucretius was an important influence on Pierre Gassendi ) and the efforts of various figures of the Enlightenment era to construct a new Christian humanism . And now, good Memmius, receptive ears And keen intelligence detached from cares I pray you bring to true philosophy De rerum natura (tr. Melville) 1.50 If I must speak, my noble Memmius, As nature's majesty now known demands De rerum natura (tr. Melville) 5.6 Virtually nothing

164-541: A major creative evolution, and through the political and artistic programs of the Ancien Régime , French literature came to dominate European letters in the 17th century. In the 18th century, French became the literary lingua franca and diplomatic language of western Europe (and, to a certain degree, in America), and French letters have had a profound impact on all European and American literary traditions while at

205-408: A stronger variety of copper and not necessarily a wholly individual material. Lucretius is believed to be the first to put forward a theory of the successive uses of first wood and stone, then copper and bronze, and finally iron. Although his theory lay dormant for many centuries, it was revived in the nineteenth century and he has been credited with originating the concept of the three-age system that

246-631: Is dedicated to Diana of Foix . He opposed European colonization of the Americas , deploring the suffering it brought upon the natives. Montaigne heavily edited the Essays at various points in his life. Sometimes he would insert just one word, while at other times he would insert whole passages. Many editions mark this with letters as follows: A copy of the fifth edition of the Essais with Montaigne's own "C" additions in his own hand exists, preserved at

287-468: Is found in Jerome's Chronicon , where he contends that Lucretius "was driven mad by a love potion , and when, during the intervals of his insanity, he had written a number of books, which were later emended by Cicero, he killed himself by his own hand in the 44th year of his life." The claim that he was driven mad by a love potion, although defended by such scholars as Reale and Catan, is often dismissed as

328-537: Is known about the life of Lucretius, and there is insufficient basis for a confident assertion of the dates of Lucretius's birth or death in other sources. Another, yet briefer, note is found in the Chronicon of Donatus's pupil, Jerome . Writing four centuries after Lucretius's death, he enters under the 171st Olympiad : "Titus Lucretius the poet is born." If Jerome is accurate about Lucretius's age (43) when Lucretius died (discussed below), then it may be concluded he

369-634: Is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in the French language by citizens of other nations such as Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Senegal , Tunisia , Algeria , Morocco , etc. is referred to as Francophone literature . For centuries, French literature has been an object of national pride for French people, and it has been one of

410-592: Is translated into English as On the Nature of Things —and somewhat less often as On the Nature of the Universe . Very little is known about Lucretius's life; the only certainty is that he was either a friend or client of Gaius Memmius , to whom the poem was addressed and dedicated. De rerum natura was a considerable influence on the Augustan poets , particularly Virgil (in his Aeneid and Georgics , and to

451-783: The Municipal Library of Bordeaux (known to editors as the Bordeaux Copy ). This edition gives modern editors a text dramatically indicative of Montaigne's final intentions (as opposed to the multitude of Renaissance works for which no autograph exists). Analyzing the differences and additions between editions show how Montaigne's thoughts evolved over time. Remarkably, he does not seem to remove previous writings, even when they conflict with his newer views. The remarkable modernity of thought apparent in Montaigne's essays, coupled with their sustained popularity, made them arguably

SECTION 10

#1732779823312

492-512: The 11th century, literature written in medieval French was one of the oldest vernacular (non-Latin) literatures in western Europe and it became a key source of literary themes in the Middle Ages across the continent. Although the European prominence of French literature was eclipsed in part by vernacular literature in Italy in the 14th century, literature in France in the 16th century underwent

533-442: The 15th and 16th centuries saw Protestant authors consistently attempting to subvert Church doctrine with reason and scholarship. Consequently, some Catholic scholars embraced skepticism as a means to discredit all reason and scholarship and accept Church doctrine through faith alone. Montaigne never found certainty in any of his inquiries into the nature of man and things, despite his best efforts and many attempts. He mistrusted

574-515: The French have come to have a profound cultural attachment to their literary heritage. Today, French schools emphasize the study of novels, theater and poetry (often learnt by heart). The literary arts are heavily sponsored by the state and literary prizes are major news. The Académie française and the Institut de France are important linguistic and artistic institutions in France, and French television features shows on writers and poets (one of

615-417: The Nature of Things" or "On the Nature of the Universe") transmits the ideas of Epicureanism , which includes atomism and cosmology . Lucretius was the first writer known to introduce Roman readers to Epicurean philosophy. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters , is divided into six untitled books, and explores Epicurean physics through richly poetic language and metaphors . Lucretius presents

656-421: The animals. In the middle of the section normally entitled "Man's Knowledge Cannot Make Him Good", he wrote that his motto was "What do I know?" The essay on Sebond defended Catholicism . As in all of his essays, Montaigne eloquently employed many references and quotes from classical Greek and Roman authors, especially Lucretius . Montaigne considered marriage necessary for the raising of children, but disliked

697-589: The assumption of his toga virilis on his 17th birthday (when the same two men held the consulate as when he was born), and it so happened that on the very same day Lucretius the poet passed away." However, although Lucretius certainly lived and died around the time that Virgil and Cicero flourished , the information in this particular testimony is internally inconsistent: if Virgil was born in 70 BC, his 17th birthday would be in 53. The two consuls of 70 BC, Pompey and Crassus , stood together as consuls again in 55, not 53. Another note regarding Lucretius's biography

738-425: The assumption that humans are necessarily superior to animals, noting that mammalian mothers in the wild recognize and nurture their offspring as do human mothers. Despite his advocacy of empiricism and his many correct conjectures about atomism and the nature of the physical world, Lucretius concludes his first book stressing the absurdity of the (by then well-established) spherical Earth theory as it related to

779-522: The case of Martin Guerre as an example, Montaigne believes that humans cannot attain certainty. His philosophical skepticism is best expressed in the long essay "An Apology for Raymond Sebond " (Book 2, Chapter 12) in which he embraced the philosophy of Pyrrhonism . Montaigne posits that we cannot trust our reasoning because thoughts just occur to us: we do not truly control them. Further, he says we do not have good reasons to consider ourselves superior to

820-474: The causes of things and has cast beneath his feet all fears, unavoidable fate, and the din of the devouring Underworld." Lucretius was an early thinker in what grew to become the study of evolution . He believed that nature experiments endlessly across the aeons, and the organisms that adapt best to their environment have the best chance of surviving. Living organisms survived because of the commensurate relationship between their strength, speed, or intellect and

861-402: The certainty of both human reason and experience. He reasoned that while man is finite, truth is infinite; thus, human capacity is naturally inhibited in grasping reality in its fullness or with certainty. Though he did believe in the existence of absolute truth, he believed that such truth could only be arrived at by man through divine revelation , leaving us in the dark on most matters. He finds

SECTION 20

#1732779823312

902-556: The countryside invites speculation that he inhabited family-owned rural estates, as did many wealthy Roman families, and he certainly was expensively educated with a mastery of Latin, Greek, literature, and philosophy. A brief biographical note is found in Aelius Donatus 's Life of Virgil , which seems to be derived from an earlier work by Suetonius . The note reads: "The first years of his life Virgil spent in Cremona until

943-625: The development in turn of crude huts, use and kindling of fire, clothing, language, family, and city-states . He believed that smelting of metal, and perhaps too, the firing of pottery, was discovered by accident: for example, the result of a forest fire. He does specify, however, that the use of copper followed the use of stones and branches and preceded the use of iron. Lucretius seems to equate copper with bronze , an alloy of copper and tin that has much greater resilience than copper; both copper and bronze were superseded by iron during his millennium (1000 BC to 1 BC). He may have considered bronze to be

984-553: The diversity of received opinions, the fallibility of human knowledge and the folly of certitude. Montaigne's stated goal in his book is to describe himself with utter frankness and honesty (" bonne foi "). The insight into human nature provided by his essays, for which they are so widely read, is merely a by-product of his introspection. Though the implications of his essays were profound and far-reaching, he did not intend or suspect that his work would garner much attention outside of his inner circle, prefacing his essays with, "I am myself

1025-465: The external dynamics of their environment. Prior to Charles Darwin 's 1859 publication of On the Origin of Species , the natural philosophy of Lucretius typified one of the foremost non- teleological and mechanistic accounts of the creation and evolution of life. In contrast to modern thought on the subject, he did not believe that new species evolved from previously existing ones. Lucretius challenged

1066-411: The great variety and volatility of human nature to be its most basic features, which resonates with Renaissance thought about the fragility of humans. According to the scholar Paul Oskar Kristeller , "the writers of the period were keenly aware of the miseries and ills of our earthly existence". A representative quote of Montaigne is: "I have never seen a greater monster or miracle than myself." Citing

1107-581: The manner of a searching inquiry into an issue from different points of view. His thoughts are often supported with quotations from Ancient Greek , Latin , and Italian texts such as De rerum natura by Lucretius and the works of Plutarch . Furthermore, his Essays were seen as an important contribution to both writing form and skepticism . The name itself comes from the French word essais , meaning "attempts" or "tests", which shows how this new form of writing did not aim to educate or prove. Rather, his essays examine an enormous range of topics to reflect on

1148-530: The matter of this book; you would be unreasonable to suspend your leisure on so frivolous and vain a subject." Montaigne's essay topics spanned the entire spectrum of the profound to the trivial, with titles ranging from "Of Sadness and Sorrow" and "Of Conscience" to "Of Smells" and "Of Posting" (referring to posting letters). Montaigne wrote at the height of the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598) between Catholics and protestant Huguenots . Christianity in

1189-485: The most influential aspects of the literature of Europe . France ranks first on the list of Nobel Prizes in literature by country. One of the first known examples of French literature is the Song of Roland , the first major work in a series of poems known as, " chansons de geste ". The French language is a Romance language derived from Latin and heavily influenced principally by Celtic and Frankish . Beginning in

1230-459: The most prominent work in French philosophy until the Enlightenment . Their influence over French education and culture is still strong. The official portrait of former French president François Mitterrand pictured him facing the camera, holding an open copy of the Essays in his hands. English journalist and politician J. M. Robertson argued that Montaigne's essays had a profound influence on

1271-463: The most watched shows on French television was Apostrophes , a weekly talk show on literature and the arts). Literature matters deeply to the people of France and plays an important role in their sense of identity. As of 2022, fifteen French authors have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature which is more than novelists, poets and essayists of any other country. In 1964 Jean-Paul Sartre

Essays (Montaigne) - Misplaced Pages Continue

1312-590: The plays of William Shakespeare , citing their similarities in language, themes and structures. Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 French literature French Language and Literature French literary history Medieval 16th century • 17th century 18th century • 19th century 20th century • Contemporary Literature by country France • Quebec Postcolonial • Haiti Franco-American Portals France • Literature French literature Wikisource French literature ( French : littérature française ) generally speaking,

1353-406: The principles of atomism , the nature of the mind and soul , explanations of sensation and thought, the development of the world and its phenomena , and explains a variety of celestial and terrestrial phenomena . The universe described in the poem operates according to these physical principles, guided by fortuna , "chance", and not the divine intervention of the traditional Roman deities and

1394-491: The religious explanations of the natural world. Within this work, Lucretius makes reference to the cultural and technological development of humans in his use of available materials, tools, and weapons through prehistory to Lucretius's own time. He specifies the earliest weapons as hands, nails, and teeth. These were followed by stones, branches, and fire (once humans could kindle and control it). He then refers to "tough iron" and copper in that order, but goes on to say that copper

1435-426: The result of historical confusion, or anti-Epicurean bias. In some accounts the administration of the toxic aphrodisiac is attributed to his wife Lucilia . Regardless, Jerome's image of Lucretius as a lovesick, mad poet continued to have significant influence on modern scholarship until quite recently, although it now is accepted that such a report is inaccurate. His poem De rerum natura (usually translated as "On

1476-559: The same time being heavily influenced by these other national traditions. Africa and the far East have brought the French language to non-European cultures that are transforming and adding to the French literary experience today. Under the aristocratic ideals of the Ancien Régime (the "honnête homme"), the nationalist spirit of post-revolutionary France, and the mass educational ideals of the Third Republic and modern France,

1517-464: The strong feelings of romantic love as being detrimental to freedom. One of his quotations is: "Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside desperate to get out." In education, he favored concrete examples and experience over the teaching of abstract knowledge that is expected to be accepted uncritically. Montaigne's essay "On the Education of Children"

1558-541: Was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he declined it, stating that "It is not the same thing if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre or if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize winner. A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honorable form." For most of the 20th century, French authors had more Literature Nobel Prizes than those of any other nation. The following French or French language authors have won

1599-523: Was born in 99 or 98 BC. Less specific estimates place the birth of Lucretius in the 90s BC and his death in the 50s BC, in agreement with the poem's many allusions to the tumultuous state of political affairs in Rome and its civil strife . Lucretius probably was a member of the aristocratic gens Lucretia , and his work shows an intimate knowledge of the luxurious lifestyle in Rome. Lucretius's love of

1640-475: Was formalised from 1834 by C. J. Thomsen . In a letter by Cicero to his brother Quintus in February 54 BC, Cicero said: "The poems of Lucretius are as you write: they exhibit many flashes of genius , and yet show great mastership." In the work of another author in late Republican Rome, Virgil writes in the second book of his Georgics , apparently referring to Lucretius, "Happy is he who has discovered

1681-426: Was the primary means of tilling the soil and the basis of weaponry until, "by slow degrees", the iron sword became predominant (it still was in his day) and "the bronze sickle fell into disrepute" as iron ploughs were introduced. He had earlier envisaged a pre-technological, pre-literary kind of human whose life was lived "in the fashion of wild beasts roaming at large". From this beginning, he theorised, there followed

Essays (Montaigne) - Misplaced Pages Continue

#311688