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Lies viel, vergiss das meiste wieder, und sei schwer von Begriff! - Habe ein Hinterzimmer in deinem Geschäft! - Tu etwas, was noch nie zuvor jemand getan hat! - Mach deinen Job gut, aber nicht zu gut! - Philosophiere nur zufällig! - Bedenke alles, bereue nichts!

Mit diesen und anderen Antworten auf die eine Frage "Wie soll ich leben?" führt Sarah Bakewell durch das ungewöhnliche Leben des Weingutbesitzers, Liebhabers, Essayisten, Bürgermeisters und Reisenden Michel de Montaigne. Dabei gelingt ihr das Kunststück, ihn ganz im 16. Jahrhundert, im Zeitalter der Religionskriege, zu verorten und gerade dadurch für unsere Zeit verständlich zu machen. Wie soll man Montaigne lesen? Nicht wie ein Kind, um sich zu amüsieren, und nicht wie die Ehrgeizigen, um sich zu belehren. "Nein. Lesen sie ihn, um zu leben!", empfahl der große Flaubert.

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How to get on well with people, how to adjust to losing someone you love? How to live? This question obsessed Renaissance nobleman Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-92), who wrote free-roaming explorations of his thought. This biography of Montaigne relates the story of his life by way of the questions he posed and the answers he explored.

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How to get on well with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you love? How to live?

This question obsessed Renaissance nobleman Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-92), who wrote free-roaming explorations of his thought and experience, unlike anything written before. Into these essays he put whatever was in his head: his tastes in wine and food, his childhood memories, the way his dog´s ears twitched when it was dreaming, events in the appalling civil wars raging around him. The Essays was an instant bestseller, and over four hundred years later, readers still come to him in search of companionship, wisdom and entertainment - and in search of themselves.

This first full biography of Montaigne in English for nearly fifty years relates the story of his life by way of the questions he posed and the answers he explored.

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Sarah Bakewell had a wandering childhood in Europe, Australia and England. After studying at the University of Essex, she was a curator of early printed books at the Wellcome Library before becoming a full-time writer, publishing her highly acclaimed biographies The Smart and The English Dane. She lives in London, where she teaches creative writing at City University and catalogues rare book collections for the National Trust.. www.sarahbakewell.com

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