Poverty, Zithers, Gaslighting, Sex, Religion, Chickens, and Montaigne
Montaigne in Barn Boots is going to paperback (your copy will be unbent), so it seemed a good time to revisit this Brevity interview in which I address everything in the headline and more. An excerpt:
In fact he did have chickens. And pigs. Alain de Botton reckons Montaigne’s frankness about sex came from watching barnyard critters doing it (Mr. de Botton would want you to know that is a paraphrase, not a direct quote). Key difference is, I doubt Montaigne cleaned his own chicken coop.
More:
Well, I’ve lately been reading Voltaire, and he fashions a frame that fits a little too easily around our daily news. It seems we are deep into the golden age of gas-lighting. I come from blue-collar roots. Tend to kick my foot in the dirt and be all diffident. Properly so, in most instances. But there’s a huge gulf between being ignorant (as I am, to great depth, and across vast expanses) and proudly ignorant.
NOTE: The paperback version of “Montaigne in Barn Boots” is available from the online outlet of your choice (including signed copies) here.
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