Montaigne withdrew to his country estates and began to write,
and in the highly original essays that resulted
he discussed themes such as fathers and children,
conscience and cowardice, coaches and cannibals,
and, above all, himself.
On Some Lines of Virgil opens out into a frank discussion
of sexuality and makes a revolutionary case
for the equality of the sexes.
In On Experience he superbly propounds his thoughts
on the right way to live, while other essays touch on issues of an age
struggling with religious and intellectual strife,
with France torn apart by civil war.
These diverse subjects are united by Montaigne's distinctive voice -
that of a tolerant man, skeptical, humane, often humorous
and utterly honest in his pursuit of the truth.
I distinguish my copy as translation to fully retain the light-hearted
and inquiring nature of the essays,
and when I examined Montaigne's life and times,
through my own—when I was 24 or 25—
it gave me the remarkable self-portrait
that I needed to emerge in my own writings.