The essays of Michel de Montaigne online
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The essays of Michel de Montaigne online
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Re: The essays of Michel de Montaigne online
#2Okay I’ll bite. The essay on raising children piqued my interest. The first two paragraphs:
> I never yet saw that father, but let his son be never so decrepit or deformed, would not, notwithstanding, own him: not, nevertheless, if he were not totally besotted, and blinded with his paternal affection, that he did not well enough discern his defects: but that with all defaults, he was still his. Just so, I see better than any other, that all I write here are but the idle reveries of a man that has only nibbled upon the outward crust of sciences in his nonage, and only retained a general and formless image of them; who has got a little snatch of everything and nothing of the whole, à la Françoise.
This does not seem “updated” or “modern”.
Updating these old texts seems like a perfect use case for AI. Let’s give GPT 4o a shot:
> I have never seen a father, no matter how frail or deformed his son may be, who would not still claim him as his own. Yet, unless completely blinded by paternal affection, the father is fully aware of his son’s flaws. Despite those shortcomings, the son remains his child. In the same way, I am more aware than anyone else that what I write here is nothing more than the idle musings of someone who, in his youth, only skimmed the surface of knowledge. I have retained only a vague and incomplete impression of the sciences, having dabbled a little in everything but mastered nothing—true to the French way.
Much better!
Re: The essays of Michel de Montaigne online
#3Okay I’ll bite. The essay on raising children piqued my interest. The first two paragraphs: > I never yet saw that father, but let his son be never so decrepit or deformed, would not, notwithstanding, own him: not, nevertheless, if he were not totally besotted, and blinded with his paternal affection, that he did not well enough discern his defects: but that with all defaults, he was still his. Just so, I see better…
The author of the website has mentioned that
> I am slowly replacing the Cotton/Hazlitt translation with a contemporary one and adding new notes
So I would assume that the essay you're talking about is from the earlier Cotton translation and has still not been replaced.
This is the first time I've seen AI being used to "modernize" old texts, and it works wonderfully in this case; though a bit of the old-timey charm is lost imo. I used to read a translation that I'd found in my university library which I enjoyed a lot. Very readable but still retained the "feel" of a 16th century book. I don't recall the translator unfortunately.
Re: The essays of Michel de Montaigne online
#4Okay I’ll bite. The essay on raising children piqued my interest. The first two paragraphs: > I never yet saw that father, but let his son be never so decrepit or deformed, would not, notwithstanding, own him: not, nevertheless, if he were not totally besotted, and blinded with his paternal affection, that he did not well enough discern his defects: but that with all defaults, he was still his. Just so, I see better…
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Re: The essays of Michel de Montaigne online
#5Okay I’ll bite. The essay on raising children piqued my interest. The first two paragraphs: > I never yet saw that father, but let his son be never so decrepit or deformed, would not, notwithstanding, own him: not, nevertheless, if he were not totally besotted, and blinded with his paternal affection, that he did not well enough discern his defects: but that with all defaults, he was still his. Just so, I see better…
The author of the website has mentioned that > I am slowly replacing the Cotton/Hazlitt translation with a contemporary one and adding new notes So I would assume that the essay you're talking about is from the earlier Cotton translation and has still not been replaced. This is the first time I've seen AI being used to "modernize" old texts, and it works wonderfully in this case; though a bit of the old-timey charm i…
Totally right. The art and science of translation is an age-old debate and where AI isn’t super well suited. We’re not at a point where it ends up more than a summary but the point is the proper “translation” of the tone, subtle intent and idiosyncrasies of the author. That said, most human translators take license (e.g. The Bible) and how do we counterweight against their flaws, so there’s not a great answer here.
Except I hope the guy works through it and does a good job cause the original is a bit of a slog!
Re: The essays of Michel de Montaigne online
#6Thank you for your efforts.
One of my favorite quotes of all time:
"’Tis an absolute and, as it were, a divine perfection, for a man to know how loyally to enjoy his being. We seek other conditions, by reason we do not understand the use of our own; and go out of ourselves, because we know not how there to reside. ’Tis to much purpose to go upon stilts, for, when upon stilts, we must yet walk with our legs; and, when seated upon the most elevated throne in the world, we are but seated upon our breech." — Michel de Montaigne, Essays, "Of Experience"
I like the contemporary translations floating around the web "even on the highest throne in the world, we still sit on our ass"
Re: The essays of Michel de Montaigne online
#7[flagged]
Re: The essays of Michel de Montaigne online
#8Thank you for your efforts. One of my favorite quotes of all time: "’Tis an absolute and, as it were, a divine perfection, for a man to know how loyally to enjoy his being. We seek other conditions, by reason we do not understand the use of our own; and go out of ourselves, because we know not how there to reside. ’Tis to much purpose to go upon stilts, for, when upon stilts, we must yet walk with our legs; and, when…
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Re: The essays of Michel de Montaigne online
#9Okay I’ll bite. The essay on raising children piqued my interest. The first two paragraphs: > I never yet saw that father, but let his son be never so decrepit or deformed, would not, notwithstanding, own him: not, nevertheless, if he were not totally besotted, and blinded with his paternal affection, that he did not well enough discern his defects: but that with all defaults, he was still his. Just so, I see better…
I disagree. This sucks.
Re: The essays of Michel de Montaigne online
#10I've been working on writing essays to process my thinking for the last few months. Glad to see this be on #1 of `new`.