In: HeLix - Heidelberger Beiträge zur romanischen Literaturwissenschaft, 3 (2010), pp. 22-36

Abstract

The naked body occupies a prominent role in Michel de Montaigne’s Essais. Addressing himself to his reader, the author expresses his desire for immediate self-representation with the idea of getting rid of his clothes. This undressing self-exhibition is not the only nudist scene in Montaigne’s writings. This contribution will explore two essays in which the bare body gains special importance, “De l’usage de se vestir” (I. 36) and “Des cannibales” (I. 31). Nudity proves to be not a simple sign of an original state of man before civilization, used by Montaigne to critique his own civilization in a cynic or enlightened matter. Rather, nudity is part of the complex process of constructing textual meaning in which Montaigne remains always aware of his own subjectivity and its uncertain constitution.