French Literature Reviews - 2026

C. de Obaldia, L'esprit de l'essai. De Montaigne à Borges.
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

Claire de Obaldia, The Essayistic Spirit: Literature, Modern Criticism and the Essay (translated by E. Colombani from the English original, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), Paris: Le Seuil, coll. "Poétique", February 2005. 442 p. €28. ISBN: 2.02.050716.1

Beyond the diversity of its manifestations across different cultural horizons, the essay genre—frequently overlooked in literary studies—constitutes a crucial form for interrogating literature itself. A protean genre since its "founding" by Montaigne, it functions as both a stepping back and an exercise of the self that transgresses contingent boundaries between genres to establish, at their margins, a mode of literariness that resists reduction to the canonical criteria of traditional classifications.

Essayism thus emerges as the mark of a wandering, an incessant shifting that brings to light the dual imperative—common to all literary texts—of creation and commentary, production and reflection. The author examines the multiple variations of this issue, tracing it from Montaigne to Borges, via the German Romantics, Lukács, Adorno, Musil, and Barthes.
We see the essayistic spirit pervading all genres, revealing along the way the repressed essence of literature, which is by nature rebellious against any pre-established generic status.

Claire de Obaldia received her doctorate in philosophy from Oxford in 1990. She has taught comparative literature in Oxford and Geneva, and currently lives in Paris.

The essay holds a distinctive position within literary studies as a protean and often overlooked genre that defies rigid boundaries. Since its establishment by Montaigne, this mode of writing has operated at the margins of established forms, combining creative production with critical reflection. Claire de Obaldia received her doctorate in philosophy from Oxford in 1990 and has taught comparative literature in Oxford and Geneva.

Readers interested in the evolution of prose forms and the theoretical implications of genre boundaries may find this study relevant. Claire de Obaldia traces the manifestations of the essayistic spirit through works ranging from Montaigne to Borges, engaging with thinkers such as the German Romantics, Georg Lukács, Theodor Adorno, Robert Musil, and Roland Barthes. The volume highlights how the impulse toward essayism permeates diverse literary traditions and continues to challenge conventional literary categories.