Montaigne and the Comic: Exposing Private Life

Abstract

Between men of action, men of words, and men—like the philosophers—who find themselves curiously in between, Montaigne would ideally write like Epicurus and Seneca, in a style that unites his actions with his words. This union of "doings" and "sayings," of doctrine and daily activity, is also what Montaigne refers to as the wisdom of the philosophers. His new form of wisdom in the Essays unites his sayings and doings, but without losing touch with the paradox of making the private public, and the inevitability of being judged comic in his time for exposing his private life.