Montaigne's Revisions

Rhetoric Review Jul 2005

Thomas Newkirk

Abstract

Montaigne composed his essays through an elaborate and extensive process of additions, a revision process that was ongoing throughout the quarter century he was working on them. His painstaking practice of addition helps complicate the "self" Montaigne often tries to convey—that of a casual, digressive, "open" writer. The revisions also supply a metacommentary on his writing project (including his tendency to make additions). In these self-reflective additions, he openly grapples with the dominance of writing mentors, particularly Seneca and Plutarch, and he works out a theory of audience for his work.

Journal: Rhetoric Review
Published: 2005-07-01
DOI: 10.1207/s15327981rr2403_4
Open Access: Closed
Topics: revision

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Also cites 2 works outside this index ↓

Montaigne, Michel de. The Complete Essays of Montaigne. Trans. Donald Frame. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1957.

↗
Regosin Richard (1984)

10.2307/2861995

Renaissance Quarterly ↗

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