Approaching Death by Writing: Montaigne's Essays and the Literature of Consolation

Heitsch examines the ways in which Montaigne's essays challenged and altered the conventions of the literature of consolation as he wrote to heal the loss of his best friend, Etienne de La Bo�tie. Heitsch finds in Montaigne's work not only a system of consolation for others, but also a movement toward consolation and peace for the writer himself, as well as a complex and dangerous challenging of social, religious, and political orthodoxies.