Selected Essays of Montaigne
Online Discussion GrouP: JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2015
Led by Bob Coe
Led by Bob Coe
This discussion will take place over a period of eight
weeks in January and February, beginning the Monday of each week
(January 5, 12, 19, and 26; and February 2, 9, 16, and 23). We
will be discussing online one of Montaigne's essays each week, except
for the longer, last essay which will take two weeks. I will ask a few
questions relating to each essay before the start of the week. Note
that none of the essays, except "On friendship," was covered this fall
in OLLI's 10-week Montaigne course, which will be repeated in the
spring. The online discussion will be open to OLLI members and their
friends.
Here is the list of the essays scheduled for each week:
1. Jan 5: On three kinds of association - Book III, essay 32. Jan. 12: On friendship - Book I.28
3. Jan. 19: On coaches - Book III.6
4. Jan. 26: On the art of conversation - Book III.8
5. Feb. 2: On presumption - Book II.17
6. Feb. 9: On physiognomy - Book III.12
7. and 8. Feb. 16 and 23: On experience - Book III.13
You may access the essays in several ways. You can download the complete essays translated by M.A. Screech (the preferred version) for Kindle use at a cost of $14. Or you can download the complete essays free at the Project Gutenberg website. This version is based on a translation made in the 17th century and corrected by William Hazlitt in 1877. Although the translation is obviously not modern, it is understandable. Or you can use a translation in book form; Screech and Donald Frame are the more recent translators of the complete essays. It should not matter which translation you use.
Please follow this link to log into the discussion group: http://olliau.pbworks.com/w/session/loggedout?logout=1
The group's discussion coordinator is Bob Coe, who has taught mostly history courses at OLLI for the past ten years.