15 Comments

Thanks for reminding me of this book. I haven't thought about it or looked at it for decades. I guess it's time to take another look.

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Same. Haven't even thought about this book in more than fifty years.

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I've always wanted to read this book ... !

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It's so interesting the places he mentions..california he thought of as an island.

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I love this book! is really such a rich work, you could read it forever. I would include it with Montaigne's Essays as an essential work to keep and peruse till death.

I don't understand though why you should only own a KJ Bible "grudgingly"?? It may be the best piece of literature, along w Homer, ever created. Does the writer prefer another translation or was it some sort of anti-Christian signal?

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The Complete Review writer is very eclectic, I'm not sure why he said that. But he does provide a list of reviews that were published when the NYRB did a reprint.

I have Montaigne's Essays on my shelf next to me!

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I don't think there's any writer who's easier to be with on the page, he is like a wise easygoing friend who always talks but never gets boring.

Also, most people don't know how much of Montaigne is in "Hamlet", there are some very similar lines in the Essais and Hamlet's soliloquies.

Shakespeare had good taste!

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THAT I didn't know. There was more back and forth than we realize between England and France. Now I have to re-read Hamlet.

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here are some parallel passages:

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/shakespeareandmontaigneh.html

and another book to buy!

https://www.nyrb.com/products/shakespeare-s-montaigne

my reading list will definitely survive me ;)

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Shakespeare's Montaigne

by Michel de Montaigne, edited and with an introduction by Stephen Greenblatt, edited, modernized, and annotated by Peter Platt, translated from the French by John Florio.

I did a big book purge a few years ago...but somehow there are new ones always. THX for this.

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It would be really interesting to read more in this wonderful substack on (personal) book purges. It is a constant tension in my life, and it hadn’t occurred to me until just now that I am not alone in this. Also - relatedly - how do people organize their own books? What considerations do they bring to bear on the subject? I still remember the first (only?) book I ever threw in the trash: a 1973 paperback almanac. In about 2005. I still feel bad about it.

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of course!

i salute you from one bibliomaniac to another...cheers!

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