Writers of the modern essay can trace their chosen genre all the way back to Michel de Montaigne (1533-92). But save for the recent notable best seller How to Live: A Life of Montaigne by Sarah Bakewell, Montaigne is largely ignored. After Montaigne--a collection of twenty-four new personal essays intended as tribute--aims to correct this collective lapse of memory and introduce modern readers and writers to their stylistic forebear.
Though it's been over four hundred years since he began writing his essays, Montaigne's writing is still fresh, and his use of the form as a...