Montaigne's Career

Explores the practical world in which the French writer Michel de Montaigne (1533-92) and his peers worked, in which it was almost impossible to make a living through writing alone. Following Montaigne through his various roles as manager, magistrate, diplomat, and mayor, Hoffmann examines the sources of income available to sixteenth-century writers, the various demands on their time, and their involvement in the financial and editorial aspects of publishing itself, to illustrate the interdependent relationship between writing and politics in the sixteenth century.