"The Essays" by Montaigne: postmodernist interpretation

The article is devoted to the analysis of Montaigne?s book “The Essays” from the point of view of postmodernist criticism. The work is conceived as an experimental eclectic and mosaic formation, full of paradoxes, which creates the multiplicity of its interpretations in terms of different practices, including postmodernist practices. The features of the author’s self-identification are analysed through the postmodernist paradigm. The originality of the essayistic method of understanding reality through the philosopher?s own beliefs is investigated. The intertextual nature of his essays, based on individual authorial commentary on citation material, reinterpretation, and reevaluation of the past experiences, through which the author creates his image, are analysed. The ironic nature of Montaigne?s works, his methods of playing with the reader are analyzed separately. It is generalized that the author?s ironic position in the book “The Essays” is an indicator of the freedom of his personal thinking and a catalyst for readers to develop their own attitude to everything he contemplates. The comprehension of the compositional organization of the book “The Essays” from the point of view of rhizomatism is suggested. It is concluded that by combining tradition and experiment, Montaigne demonstrates the limitations of both classical tradition and postmodern aesthetics.

Ключові слова

Montaigne, essay, essay compilation, postmodernism, intertextuality, irony, rhizome, game, experiment

Бібліографічний опис

Shevchenko T. "The Essays" by Montaigne: postmodernist interpretation / T. Shevchenko, O. Filipenko, M. Yakubovska // Wisdom. – Vol. 20, no. 1. – P. 188–199.