Alain Legros, author of the Essais

A relentless scholar, Alain Legros has methodically surrounded the Essays with flawless erudition. His scholarship encompasses manuscripts, annotations, inscriptions on the library’s beams and layers under layers of text. His expertise in Montaigne’s various hands and handwriting is unparalleled. The authoritative editor of three different types of transcription (diplomatic, “cultural heritage”, modernised), he wound up translating “De la force de l’imagination” in present-day French. Is it foolish to believe that Alain Legros is the true author of the Essays quite in the way Borges’ Pierre Ménard is that of the Quixote ?