Anonymous wrote:Read him in grad school and while excellent isn't exactly light reading.

The popularity of Montaigne's essays is that they are in fact, very easy to read and seem at times almost modern.

He was part of the curriculum in my French high school. We treated him like any other philosopher. Give it a try, and see for yourself.

Read him in grad school and while excellent isn't exactly light reading.

His essays are excellent. I read them as an undergrad in the late 80s/ early 90s and still hold them up today as some of the best writing ever.

"If a man should importune me to give a reason why I lov'd him, I find it could no otherwise be exprest, than by making answer: because it was he, because it was I,"

Anonymous wrote:I read Montaigne as a French student. Remember the essays being well written and sometimes humorous, but don’t remember anything else about them. I don’t think anyone reads him anymore.

Forgot to add: if you want to be seen as a true snooty francophone intellectual, you have to start with Proust.

I read Montaigne as a French student. Remember the essays being well written and sometimes humorous, but don’t remember anything else about them. I don’t think anyone reads him anymore.

Is he worth reading? When I picture a reader of Montaigne I picture a witty patrician intellectual who went to Harvard, Yale or Oxford, a very extensive vocabulary a and very large home library etc.