Montaigne is one of those guys that I have heard of but know nothing about so, when Axor started reading him, on p. 358, I googled and learned that:
Montaigne influenced philosophers, poets, Asimov and possibly the later Shakespeare;
he originated the self-deprecating remark, "What do I know?," which makes him sound like Socrates - who was the wisest man in Greece because he was the only one who knew that he knew nothing.
Clearly, Montaigne is relevant to some of the themes of Poul Anderson Appreciation and maybe he should have been mentioned before now.
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm almost sure I came across Montaigne's "What do I know?" SOMEWHERE, possibly in the works of Poul Anderson, or possibly one of Julian May's two SURVEILLANCE books. And possibly other writers?
Montaigne, alas, is one of those writers I have "heard" about but never read. But it seems plain Anderson did read his ESSAYS.
Ad astra! Sean
As the saying goes, "It ain't what you don't know that'll kill you, it's what you think you know that just ain't so."
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