Montaigne and the Ethics of Skepticism by Zahi Zalloua

Abstract

MLR, 102.3, 2007 85I cide, infanticide, adultery, concupiscence, etc.), thisvolume will offera rich source of thought-provoking material. UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL GLYN S. BURGESS Montaigne and the Ethics ofSkepticism. By ZAHI ZALLOUA.Charlottesville: Rookwood Press. 2005. 191 PP. $39.95. ISBN 978-I-886365-56-8. This densely written study covers awide range ofMontaigne scholarship. Zahi Zal loua's stated aim is to avoid the limited viewpoints of particular tendencies and to be a bridge 'between the contextualists and poeticists' (p. 5). This laudable effort toprovide an overarching view ofMontaigne scholarship is especially pleasing. The more traditional reader, however, will find that a great deal of the book deals with more modern critical approaches, and that thehistorical and contextual elements are for themost part relegated to the references and footnotes.A lot ofwork has been published onMontaigne's scepticism in the last tenyears, and there isstill a great deal of interest in thephilosophical and religious context inwhich theEssais were written. This book avoids discussion of the philosophical issues surrounding scepticism and prefers to concentrate on the idea ofMontaigne's ethical identity. It isconstructed around threemajor chapters. The first, 'Socrates, Philosophy, the Ideal Other', deals with Montaigne's intellectual and ethical self.There is extensive analysis of 'De laPhisionomie' and of some other key essays. The author emphasizes thathe isnot concerned with theethics of Montaigne the individual historical person, but ratherwith the ethical self that isderived through a proper reading of theEssais. He draws inspiration from the seminal work of Jean-Yves Pouilloux, Lire lesEssais deMontaigne (Paris: Maspero, I969), but hemanages to integrate this approach with thatofmost of themajor Montaigne scholars of thepast fifty years. The second, 'La Boetie, Friendship, the Intimate Other', deals with aspects of the emotional self.The essay 'De l'Amitie' is closely analysed, and the author contrasts the study of the selfwith the study of the 'other'. He stresses the need to avoid subordinating friendship towhat he calls 'a rhetoric of exemplarity' (p. 99), and con centrates instead on theethical and sceptical implications ofMontaigne's relationship with his friend. The thirdchapter, 'The Cannibal, Humanism, theRadical Other', deals withMon taigne's views ofman and society.The two key essays are 'Des Cannibales' and 'Des Coches', and once again there is exhaustive and perceptive analysis of both essays. The concept of defamiliarization isexamined, and theauthor argues that Montaigne's readers 'will be fundamentally altered and compelled to practice self-reflexivity,to care, to cultivate an ethical self through a better understanding of both the cultural and religious other' (p. I44). The study draws on a wide range of sources, and is served by a very thorough footnoting system and awide-ranging bibliography. As the author states, the book arises out of a Ph.D. dissertation, and to some extent this isvisible throughout. He attempts to cover every possible angle, and at times the overall thrust of the argu ment is lost sight of in the detailed analysis. The written stylemakes no compromise for the reader, and many sentences warrant a second or third reading. On the other hand, all quotations from theEssais and all other quotations inFrench are translated into English, presumably in order to attract a wider readership than the specialist in Montaigne studies However, once the sometimes difficult style ispenetrated, the insights are always worthwhile, and he succeeds to some extent in drawing together the traditional and themore modern approaches to Montaigne scholarship. The undoubted value of the study is in itsattempt, largely successful, to portray theMontaigne of theEssais through a coherent perspective. Its ambitious attempt 852 Reviews to compress a combination of the study ofMontaigne's ethics with a study of his scepticism in a slim volume isoften brilliant, and always stimulating. UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER PHILIP HENDRICK Zayde: A Spanish Romance. By MARIE-MADELEINE PIOCHE DE LAVERGNE, COMTESSE DE LAFAYETTE. Ed. and trans. by NICHOLAS D. PAIGE. (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe) Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2oo6. 248 pp. $I8. ISBN 978-o-226-46852-5. Although The Princess of Cleves has long been a part of the literary curriculum, for readers of English as well as of its original French, the longest work attributed to Marie-Madeleine de La Vergne...