Essayist Michel de Montaigne is one of the most accessible and widely read authors in world literature. His skepticism and relativism, and the personal quality of his writing, make him a perennial favorite among readers today. Montaigne After Theory / Theory After Montaigne pursues the idea that theory has altered the scholarly understanding of Montaigne, while Montaigne's ideas have simultaneously challenged the authority of the various interpretive doxa collectively known as "theory."Montaigne's life and writings have drawn myriad interpretations. While some scholars of his work focus on the content of the writings to define the man, others stress his playful use of language. Montaigne's complex and multifaceted works provide fertile ground for exploring themes of wide-ranging significance within the field of literary theory, including the relationship between biography and theory; the critique of modernism; a critical history of the confessional mode of writing; sexuality and gender; and the theory of practice. The essays in this collection move beyond the current stalemate in Montaigne criticism by revisiting questions about the role of theory in literary studies and by opening up a dialogue on the validity and limitations, or use and abuse, of theory in Montaigne studies.

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: What Is Theory? / Zahi Zalloua1. From Amateur Gentleman to Gentleman Amateur / George Hoffmann2. Theory and Practice in "Du pedantisme" / Eric MacPhail3. Fashion / John O'Brien4. Duty, Conciliation, and Ontology in the Essais / Jacob Vance5. Montaigne Parrhesiastes: Foucault's Fearless Speech and Truthtelling in the Essays / Reinier Leushuis 6. "Qu'est-ce que la critique?" La Boétie, Montaigne, Foucault / Marc Schachter 7. Confession or Parrhesia? Foucault after Montaigne / Virginia Krause8. Nasty, Brutish, and Long: The Life of Montaigne's Essais in Hobbes's Theory of Contract / David l. Sedley9. Cannibalizing Experience in the Essais / Andrea Frisch10. Rereading Montaigne's Memorable Stories: Sexuality and Gender in Vitry-le-François / Edith J. Benkov 11. Theorizing Sex and Gender in Montaigne / Todd W. Reeser 12. For a Theory of Forms in Montaigne / Philippe Desan 13. Fadaises & Dictons / Tom Conley 14. "Mettre la theorique avant la practique": Montaigne and the Practice of Theory / Richard L. Regosin Bibliography Contributors Index