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Great effort ! The most striking things to me when I started reading the Essays, is how much it reads like... A blog. Variety of topics, general consistency of theme, a tone that is surprisingly conversationnal... And the bombardment of references, in jokes, quotes, etc... that you use to create connivence with your reader. Also, in the end, if you were asked what Montaigne was famous for, what he actually did, _beyond writing his blog_, you would be... hard pressed to answer. Still, I would probably lurk his substack, and watch his stand up on Instagram. |
This is somewhat deceptive. The Essais were very personal, but not spontaneous at all. He spent a lot of time polishing them and rewriting them right until he died. Just like Rabelais, the apparent casual tone of the language is actually quite a lot of work.
In comparison, blog posts are quick to post and then just left as they are. They are closer to letters in that respect.