Montaigne’s anger Ingenium and melancholy in the encounter with Tasso (“Apologie de Raimond Sebond”, II, 12)

The “Apologie” recalls Montaigne's visit to a demented Tasso in what is a beautifully crafted praise of melancholic genius to the modern reader: Montaigne’s anger at the end of it strikes a surprising note. This article attempts to elucidate this anger by interpreting it in accordance with the period senses of melancholy and ingenuity. The early moderns used these two medical and rhetorical categories to assess the successes and failures of creative literary processes.