Imagine devoting two decades of your life to writing dozens of essays with no expectation of anyone ever reading them. For most people, such a perspective would not make sense. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) thought otherwise. Why? Because he was primarily writing for himself.

There were a few best-selling books in the sixteenth century but they made little money for their authors. Literature became a business only in the nineteenth century, when technology made it possible to print novels at a low-cost and sell them in large quantities.

Montaigne never enjoyed the advantages of literary success, but still, he carried out a project that he had set for himself. He wanted to explore in depth subjects that interested him, and his method of exploration was writing essays.

He wrote non-stop for two decades, jumping from subject to subject without any pre-established order. He would address subjects that he found intriguing, sometimes repeating himself, but never bothered to justify his inconsistencies.

Themes in the Essays by Michel de Montaigne

Montaigne possessed an insatiable curiosity. He was fond of literature (mostly ancient Greek and Roman authors), history, philosophy and law, but did not hesitate to explore any subject that attracted his attention.

Psychology had not yet established itself as a science in the sixteenth century, but Montaigne was unafraid to explore new grounds. I consider him a pioneer in the field of self-help and how-to literature because he provided advice of perennial quality to readers.

For instance, he wrote essays about how to deal with one’s own imperfections or inconsistencies, how imagination works, the art of conversation, how to educate children, how to make friends, and how to deal with cultural diversity.

Any attempt to classify Montaigne’s essays into an orderly plan is destined to failure, precisely because there was never a plan. Montaigne acknowledged that the choice of subjects was solely dictated by his fancy. He wrote in order to philosophise and find the truth, not with the goal of pleasing readers.

Nonetheless, literary historians have identified six recurring subjects in Montaigne’s work. Those six constitute intellectual bays in which Montaigne regularly anchored his boat to fish for new insights. I am going to mention briefly those six areas:

Personal experience in Montaigne’s essays

First of all, his personal experience. He tells readers what he had for lunch, the relationship with his children, the books he enjoys to read, his health problems, his friendship with Etienne de La Boetie, and many other aspects of his life.

Second, human psychology, a subject that Montaigne found of eternal interest. He recorded his own observations of people, their characters and actions, and then ventured to explain those by comparing them to historical figures such as Julius Caesar, Demosthenes, Diogenes, or Scipio Africanus.

In his attempts at psychological analysis, Montaigne often drew inspiration from the “Parallel lives” authored by Plutarch (46-120 CE). One of Montaigne’s great assets is that he knew Plutarch’s work almost verbatim: this enabled him to quickly find the relevant anecdotes and quotations.

Third, learning in the widest sense. Montaigne loved books and regarded the library in his farmhouse as his most valuable possession. From what we read in his Essays, his library wasn’t large. My estimation is that it consisted of one hundred books, which had taken him a decade to acquire.

Although Montaigne owned relatively few books, he would read them again and again. His abundant quotations show that he must have read the essays by Seneca (4 BC-AD 65) and the “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) very often.

Fourth, human relationships, especially friendship and love. He devoted an essay to friendship, making frequent references to his friend Etienne de La Boetie. Montaigne’s admiration for La Boetie was so profound that he went as far as including in his Essays a series of love poems written by La Boetie.

Those poems appear totally out of place: They have nothing to do with the general tone of Montaigne’s Essays; neither their form nor their content matches Montaigne’s writings. They just show that Montaigne regarded personal relationships as crucial for happiness.

Ethics in Michel de Montaigne’s essays

Fifth, ethical values in the largest sense. Montaigne handled dozens of ethical questions, for which he had not yet found a definite answer. These are a few examples: when should one surrender in war, why people misrepresent the truth, the dark side of ambition, the deleterious effects of pedantry, etc.

Sixth, sickness and death. Montaigne became increasingly interested in health issues when he began to suffer from kidney stones. In the sixteenth century, the only treatments available were diet, repose, herbal infusions and warm baths. Montaigne tried them all, but it was to no avail.

As he grew old, he also worried more about death, but in his Essays, he remains calm and collected. He had adopted a Stoic attitude, which regards death as a inevitable part of life, not as something to obsess about.

Montaigne invented essays as a literary genre, but his style and structure are more often chaotic than planned. I must point out that he was writing in one go, barely taking notes or using outlines; he just started somewhere and kept going until he had covered his subject.

Meandering happened often, but Montaigne let it stand. His lucubrations have the charm of spontaneity coupled to bookish erudition. By reading Montaigne’s Essays, we learn important truths illustrated by a hundred compelling anecdotes.

If you interested in putting rational ideas into practice in all sort of situations, I recommend you my book titled “The 10 principles of rational living.”