French Forum, January 1st, 2004
The unconventional style of the Essais has been an essential part of virtually every major study of Montaigne. Its link to the essayist's discourse on the unnatural--scattered throughout the text--has also been noted, relatively rarely, however, in connection with "Des boyteux" (III, 11). (1) It is nonetheless in this chapter that the problem of the veracity of seemingly supernatural or abnormal activities takes center stage. My reading will attempt to show how this fairly short but extremely complex "riddle" of an essay is not merely another example of Montaigne's criticism of human reason. (...
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