Montaigne’s Paris
Where otium becomes a way of life, with Paris as its backdrop
“We are great fools: we say, “He has spent his life in idleness,” we say; or “I have done nothing today.” — How so? Have you not lived? That is not only the most fundamental but the most illustrious of your occupations.” (Montaigne, III, 13, 1108)
« Nous sommes de grands fols : il a passé sa vie en oisiveté, disons nous : je n'ay rien faict d'aujourd'huy. --Quoy, avez vous pas vescu? C'est non seulement la fondamentale mais la plus illustre de vos occupations. » (Montaigne, III, 13, 1108)
French philosopher Montaigne had a remarkably gentle approach to idleness. Whereas the Roman philosophers of the Renaissance associated idleness (or what they called otium) with aimlessness and considered it to be laziness or the root of all evil, Montaigne spoke of it amiably. (Krause 1) At a time when people valued productivity and civic duty and were therefore praised for their negotium – being active and performing good works – Montaigne dared to regard leisure in favourable terms. (Bondanella 15)
In his short essay on idleness, De l’oisiveté, Montaigne explains that idleness gave rise to his rêveries (Krause 10). He first compares idle minds to fallow fields and to unbridled horses; yet in the second half he reverses the imagery, and shows how his own idleness allowed him to withdraw from the world, to write, and to live in peace (passer en repos) (Montaigne, I, 8, 80) True leisure, according to the classical tradition of otium dating back to Aristotle and Epicurus, leads to the cultivation of wisdom and the flourishing of life itself. (Krause 205) It is a gateway to freedom where true human values are saved and preserved. (Bondanella 26)
For Montaigne, negotium, the obligations of civic life, was a tyrant, seeking to render every action, including writing, as a means to an end. But for him, idleness was an end in itself. (Krause 204) “The painter paints for plaisir and libéralité; he is not a mercenaire.” (Krause 221) In this sense, idleness, and time spent in leisure ensured that each human endeavour was not reduced to a mere transaction.
If one were to ask Montaigne “What is the purpose of writing?” and “What is the purpose of life?”, he might simply reply: “writing” and “life, itself”. (Krause 205)
These photographs of my mother, Irene, taken in 1967 by my father, Egidio Marchese – in Paris where Montaigne once lived and worked – illustrate otium in the truest sense: wandering for the sake of wandering, free from the tyranny of negotium – the vie active.
(Please scroll down to see the photos. For a closer look, click on each image below.)
Works Cited
Bondanella, Julia Conaway. “Petrarch’s Rereading of Otium in De vita solitaria.” Comparative Literature, vol. 60, no. 1, Winter 2008, pp. 14–28. Duke University Press on behalf of the University of Oregon.
Krause, Virginia A. Studies in Idleness in the French Renaissance: From Romance to the Essais. PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1996.
Montaigne, Michel de. The Complete Essays. Translated and edited by M. A. Screech, Penguin Books, 1991. Reprinted with corrections and a new chronology, 2003.
