THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY-OF MONTAIGNE
Selected by M. Lowenthal ,
One opens with deep misgivings Mr. Lowenthal's book, The
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Autobiography of Montaigne (Routledge, 10s. 6d.). The idea of an Everyman's ,Montaigne, reduced to the level of popular taste, is repulsive, and it would seem an almost criminal act to cut about, rearrange, select and edit an author whose entire work was devoted to depicting himself. To know Montaigne one must read all the Essays and read them carefully. To do less, to say " such and such a passage is irrelevant to the real Montaigne " would seem to be art insult, when the author himself has told us' that his ann in every passage is to display his inmost self to the world. An Everyman's Montaigne must also be a complete, unexpurgated, unabridged Montaigne. All these ideas beset the reader at first sight of Mr. Lowenthal's volume, and they are at once confirmed by some minor points no sources are given for the separate passages which appear to be patched up from different essays and jumbled together without warning ; and, secondly and far more importantly, Florio's translation is abandoned and instead a sort of modernised Cotton is used. According to the rules, therefore, Mr. Lowenthal should have produced an odious book, and yet
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in actual fact the result is rather successful. After all, a selection is useful, as we have not all time to read the Essays from beginning to end, and the Diary is not easily accessible in English. The translation has the advantage of making Montaigne seem nearer to us than he is in Florio, and in fact it strikes a happy mean between the austere and the. chatty. The selection and grouping is well done, and the passages chosen present a coherent portrait of the author.
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