Happy birthday to our pal, Michel de Montaigne, born 493 years ago today! 🎉

People talk about "On Solitude," "On Cannibals," "On the Power of the Imagination," et al.., but to really grasp Montaigne you need to go to the deep cuts. Like "On Thumbs," which is kind of like a Notes files about references to thumbs in history and art

hyperessays.net was offline briefly this morning (US EST) but it’s up and running again now. 😮‍💨 Back to reading, translating, annotating, coding, transcribing, copyediting, learning, and just having fun with the Essays.

LLMs making stuff up, Montaigne edition: chatgpt.com/share/687bc2...

“I was born between eleven and noon on the last day of February 1533 (as we reckon nowadays, with the year starting in January).“ “Je nasquis entre unze heures et midy le dernier jour de Febvrier, 1533. comme nous contons à cette heure, commençant l’an en Janvier.” hyperessays.net/essays/to-ph...

Happy birthday to us! 🎉🎂 HyperEssays turns 5 today. Still working on it. Still making progress. hyperessays.net

Happy birthday to us! 🎉🎂 HyperEssays turns 5 today. Still working on it. Still making progress. hyperessays.net

New job: Assistant Professor of Early Modern European History University of California - Los Angeles https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=67827

It’s mid-December and I know what you’re thinking: Time for another end-of-year recap. So here’s one you didn’t know you needed: HyperEssays 2023 Wrapped!

Happy World Philosophy Day, everyone! www.unesco.org/en/days/phil...

Some words are more special than others. ;) #florioism

Yesterday something quite remarkable happened: The Florentine Codex, an Encyclopedia of Aztec culture in 12 volumes finished in 1569, was posted in a digital version with beautiful images and translation. Everyone with an interest in history should check it out. florentinecodex.getty.edu

Phillip John Usher’s latest installment of “Conversations with People who Read Montaigne,” in French, is on YouTube: youtu.be/10QCtkOL8pI?... Frank Lestringant talks about ”Des Coches” and Montaigne’s place in 16th cent. discussions of the colonization of the “New World.”

Phillip John Usher’s next guest on “Conversations with People Who Read Montaigne” will be Cathy Yandell (French/Francophone Studies, Carleton College) on Monday, Oct. 30. Registration info: as.nyu.edu/research-cen... (The URL says “--frank-lestringant” but is for Yandell’s talk.)

Phillip John Usher’s next guest on “Conversations with People Who Read Montaigne” will be Cathy Yandell (French/Francophone Studies, Carleton College) on Monday, Oct. 30. Registration info: as.nyu.edu/research-cen... (The URL says “--frank-lestringant” but is for Yandell’s talk.)

Pushkin Press just released a new collection of 16 “essential essays” by Michel de Montaigne, newly translated into English by David Coward.

Phillip John Usher’s series of “Conversations with People Who Read Montaigne,” is soon to resume with its next guest, Frank Lestringant, on Sept. 25th at 1:00 PM (EST). 📅 For more information (and registration, when the time comes?) visit wp.nyu.edu/artsampscien...

People familiar with Early Modern English, what word is “bedrowle” in John Florio’s translation of Montaigne’s III.8 “Of the Arte of conferring”? “[He] doth nothing but molest al men with the impertinent bedrowle and register of his pedigrees….” hyperessays.net/florio/book/...

Phillip John Usher’s series of “Conversations with People Who Read Montaigne,” is soon to resume with its next guest, Frank Lestringant, on Sept. 25th at 1:00 PM (EST). 📅 For more information (and registration, when the time comes?) visit wp.nyu.edu/artsampscien...

A three-year investigation into the contents of a coffin thought to be the remains of Michel de Montaigne just ended. Its conclusion? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ www.lefigaro.fr/culture/le-c... (in French)

Jessie Jackson on Sesame Street in 1971 doing a call-and-response with the kids of the poem I Am - Somebody. [kottke.org]

“What could be better for any author than for his lifework to become a reader’s lifework, too?” Li, Yiyun. “Some Have Yoga. I Have Montaigne.” @theatlantic.bsky.social, September 4, 2023. www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv....

Marie de Gournay fans, check out this new *Handbook of Women and Early Modern European Philosophy* edited by Karen Detlefsen and Lisa Shapiro: www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

Feels apt that as I move to a new platform for writing that the most recent piece I published is on (hand)writing and media history. This was a challenging review essay to write, but I really appreciated the chance to do so. https://www.publicbooks.org/slanting-the-history-of-handwriting/

Hello Bluesky! Our first post will be a short introduction. HyperEssays is a project to create a modern and accessible online version of the Essays of Michel de Montaigne.