Montaigne on Solitude: What True Retreat Really Means
In 1571, Michel de Montaigne retired to the tower library of his château in the Dordogne. He was thirty-eight years old, had completed a career as a magistrate, and resolved to devote the rest of his life to reading, thinking, and writing. That decision gave rise to one of his most penetrating essays: On Solitude. In this thirty-eighth essay from the first book of the Essays, Montaigne examines what it truly means to withdraw from the world — and why most people who attempt it fail miserably. The Historical Context: Why Montaigne Withdrew Sixteenth-century France was a nation in turmoil. The Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots were tearing apart the social fabric. As a councillor at the Parliament of Bordeaux, Montaigne had witnessed firsthand how political and religious conflict poisoned public life. The loss of his dear friend Étienne de La Boétie in 1563 had also affected him profoundly. When he arrived at his estate, he had a Latin inscription placed on the wall of his study: he declared himself weary of the slavery of the court and public duties, and from that point forward dedicated himself to rest and freedom. It was from this deeply personal experience […]