The Essais (and Montaigne) put through their paces by literary history

More than any other method, the “literary method” enables us to consider the Essais, as a whole and in detail, from the first to the last sentence. It makes it possible to describe the literary and oratorical form of a discourse that is linked to a representation of their author, analyze their resources and effects, and interpret them in terms of their aim to respond, in a specific way and specific space, to the political, religious, and civil issues that affected Montaigne and his readers.