As David Foster Wallace wrote in his 2001 story "Good Old Neon":
What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at any given instant.
Do Montaigne's techniques and topics support Foster's notion or contradict it? How does Montaigne's style provide a window into his thinking? Compare with Austen's style in Pride & Prejudice. Include examples. Avoid summarizing or rehashing the original text.
The thoughts that flow from Michael de Montaigne and into the paper are astounding. He can convey his ideas into simple yet elaborate sentences that practically flow of the page and into your mind. On the other hand, Jane Austen's work in Pride and Prejudice betrays a sense of pettiness to me, at least. There is no way to compare these two amazing authors on a level playing field, because it is my personal opinion that Montaigne is one of the worlds greatest writers, along with Ernest Hemmingway and Rick Riordan.
The writings of Montaigne are numerous and difficult to understand, because he associates some of his thoughts with Latin quotes from famous Latin works that nobody understands anymore but makes it all the better. His essays range from one about the liberty of conscience to one about thumbs. Yet all these writings contain a moral, an entirely conceivable idea that forces you to think about these ideas that Montaigne speaks about.
If I haven't stated this already, bear with me... I don't like Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. I feel as if it was written for no other reason than to tell a really dumb story about 19th century women getting married. And I realize that this novel contains one of the greatest love stories known to mankind, but I just find that topic irrelevent to our course study (other than the fact that it's one of the greatest pieces of literature in history.). Maybe I'm just not getting it, or maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about, but this is MY and I will speak my mind.
All in all, despite these missgivings, I hold both authors in the highest regards. They can effectively convey their thoughts and feelings into paper form, and can bring an entire class of seniors together to contemplate the ideas and the emotions behind these writings.
CA out.
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