montaigne and florio

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
So, being bored by Cotton's language, I bought this edition of Florio's montaigne translation: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591022703/qid=1135278153/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl14/102-5701569-8088926?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

However, it's really short. Does anyone know if this is just the first volume? Is there a complete Florio Montaign available in book format (not online) and cheap?

kenchen, Thursday, 22 December 2005 19:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Long ago (1935?) Random House published a cheap edition of the Florio translation of Montaigne as a Modern Library Giant in grey cloth covers. No doubt there are still many copies of this edition floating around in used bookstores and online. (I don't know if they subsequently swiched to a newer translation.)

Aimless (Aimless), Thursday, 22 December 2005 20:05 (eighteen years ago) link

A search of Powell's Books turned up this copy for $8.95 + s/h.

Aimless (Aimless), Thursday, 22 December 2005 20:22 (eighteen years ago) link

It looks like it's just a selection of the essays, not volume 1: http://www.prometheusbooks.com/cat.html (that's the top of their entire catalog)

Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 22 December 2005 20:57 (eighteen years ago) link

You might be happier with Donald Frame's translation (available in paperback all over the place). The Florio is from Shakespeare's time and a bitch to read (at least, I always found it so).

moriarty (moriarty), Thursday, 22 December 2005 22:24 (eighteen years ago) link

Actually, I specifically want the florio translation for its weird elizabethanishness. The texture is really gaudy and amazing, though maybe not tha accurate.

Anyways, thanks for the help. I'm going to buy the modern library

kenchen, Friday, 23 December 2005 00:08 (eighteen years ago) link

And, you know, it's all available online, apparently.

Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 23 December 2005 00:44 (eighteen years ago) link

And then you can print it out, do you see.

Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 23 December 2005 00:45 (eighteen years ago) link

And sew the pages together, and create a cover. Use cardboard if you'd like it to be hardback!

Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 23 December 2005 00:45 (eighteen years ago) link

eight years pass...

http://www.nybooks.com/media/images/productimage-picture-shakespeare-s-montaigne-405_png_200x576_q85.png

a somewhat slim selection of florio made w/ shakespeare in mind, introduced by stephen greenblatt

it is truly a bitch to read so far, but weirdly, much more interesting than frame, who i have tried repeatedly with but always found boring

could it be that the obscure, strained pronoun references and long-tacit subjects of paragraphs in florio are truer to the movement of thought than frame is?

i read a little screech several years back that seemed workable, and i've read the ariew/grene apology, but florio's got ~~character~~

j., Thursday, 24 April 2014 23:38 (ten years ago) link

ok, much less of a bitch than i thought—most so when florio is at his most floriost, i assume, since his own preface strains the bounds of intelligibility

otherwise, it's such a good read compared to frame. i'm going to have to do an A/B to understand how frame could seem so lifeless.

j., Friday, 25 April 2014 19:16 (nine years ago) link

i love how the locution in montaigne is 'on his wife'

'we imagine much more fitly an artificer upon his close stool* or on his wife than a great judge, reverence for his carriage and regardful for his sufficiency.'

* ~ plumber on the toilet

j., Monday, 5 May 2014 15:52 (nine years ago) link

eight years pass...

anyone here have opinions on the screech translation in comparison with frame?

devvvine, Monday, 19 December 2022 17:20 (one year ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.