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Academics, writers and journalists

O Michelle de Montane, a debt of gratitude.

For Montane can claim to have invented the literary form known as the essay.

Montaign was born near Bordeaux in 1533 and died in 1592.

In his essays he addressed himself to a variety of subjects and drew on his own experiences, his reading, his travels, the people he'd met, his beliefs and feelings.

The topics he discussed ranged from international affairs to his sex life to his pet dog.

Many great thinkers have been influenced by Montane and he retains a following today.

His admirers include Sarah Bakewell, author of a book about Montaign.

Sarah Bakewell, welcome to Philosophy Bites.

Hello.

The topic we're going to talk about is Montane and how to live.

Could you begin by just saying a bit about who

Michel de montane was?

Michel de montane was a wine grower and magistrate, mayor of Bordeaux and various other things in the course of his not very long life.

He lived in the area just outside Bordeaux and he had a fairly undistinguished ordinary kind of career as a lawyer, a magistrate in the town.

And then he decided to leave that and reflect on his life.

And out of that came a book called The Essays which became

an instant bestseller and still does today.

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