Ny bok

Lagom till jul. Philippe Desan: Montaigne - a life. En klassisk biografi som nu kommer på engelska. Boken vänder upp och ner på en rad gängse föreställningar. Alltid välkommet. Tills nästa expert får sitt topplock att ryka. Det bästa med Montaigne? Att vår överlevnad står och faller med vår förmåga / oförmåga att bekämpa våra djuriska instinkter. Till det behövs tankeverksamhet och utbildning. Att förbli en del av naturen är inte ens önskvärt. 

One of the most important writers and thinkers of the Renaissance, Michel de Montaigne (1533-92) helped invent a literary genre that seemed more modern than anything that had come before. But did he do it, as he suggests in his Essays, by retreating to his chateau, turning his back on the world, and stoically detaching himself from his violent times? In this definitive biography, Philippe Desan, one of the world's leading authorities on Montaigne, overturns this longstanding myth by showing that Montaigne was constantly concerned with realizing his political ambitions--and that the literary and philosophical character of the Essays largely depends on them. 
As Desan shows, Montaigne lived through eight civil wars, successfully lobbied to be raised to the nobility, served as mayor of Bordeaux, as special ambassador, negotiator between Henry III and Henry of Navarre. 
It was only toward the very end of Montaigne's life, after his political failure, that he took refuge in literature. 
But, even then, it was his political experience that enabled him to find the right tone for his genre. In this essential biography, we discover a new Montaigne--caught up in the events of his time, making no separation between private and public life, and guided by strategy first in his words and silences.