Author Description

Montaigne's phrase, Moi qui me voy, concerns a problem that many writers must face: the discovery that somewhere between the intention and the act of writing, the author has to deal with the question of the self, a seductive and tiresome voice clamoring to be heard. This book presents twelve essays on poetry, prose fiction, the essai, and other forms of discourse from the Renaissance to the 20th century that examine this problem, a problem that has a crucial bearing on the continuing debate about autobiography and the author-text relationship. Together, the essays emphasize the rich French tradition of introspective writing, as exemplified by Montaigne, Pascal, Rousseau, Hugo, Flaubert, Sartre, Camus, Frénaud, and Leiris.