What can design tell us about literature? What can literature tell us about design? The Design of Montaigne's 'Essais' provides a model for answering these questions by analysing the uses and function of the termdessein. Wresting design free from its intentionalist connotations and focusing instead on the polysemy of the term in its early modern usage, which connoted both a mental plan or intention, and a material drawing or sketch, this study emphasises the open-ended design of the Essais, placing particular importance on its affinities with the practice of sketching. Looking across the Italian border at theories and practices of drawing, the book places Montaigne's dessein in dialogue with its Italian counterpart disegno, arguing for the importance of the visual dimension in Montaigne's thinking, and in his writerly imagination. The dynamism and restlessness of dessein allow us to reconsider the visual metaphors used by Montaigne to characterise the project of the Essais in light of the errance of the drawn line. Vittoria Fallanca offers a fresh way to capture the essentially gerundive nature of the Essais, constructing a visual and spatial perspective on a text by tracking multiple lines of thought that are, paradoxically, designed to escape its author's intention and control. In following the vagaries of dessein as it operates in Montaigne, the book also offers a perspective on the relationship between design and literary studies, the ways in which design can be put in our critical approaches as readers of literature, with a focus on the text as an object of use. Far from an end-oriented practice of self- or artistic control, design emerges in this book as a chancy, experimental encounter between mind and world.
| ISBN: | 9780198985488 |
| Publication date: | 12th March 2026 |
| Author: | Vittoria Fallanca |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press an imprint of OUP OXFORD |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 240 pages |
| Series: | Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs |
| Genres: |
Drawing and drawings History of art Literary studies: general |
What can design tell us about literature? What can literature tell us about design? The Design of Montaigne's 'Essais' provides a model for answering these questions by analysing the uses and function of the termdessein. Wresting design free from its intentionalist connotations and focusing instead on the polysemy of the term in its early modern usage, which connoted both a mental plan or intention, and a material drawing or sketch, this study emphasises the open-ended design of the Essais, placing particular importance on its affinities with the practice of sketching. Looking across the Italian border at theories and practices of drawing, the book places Montaigne's dessein in dialogue with its Italian counterpart disegno, arguing for the importance of the visual dimension in Montaigne's thinking, and in his writerly imagination. The dynamism and restlessness of dessein allow us to reconsider the visual metaphors used by Montaigne to characterise the project of the Essais in light of the errance of the drawn line. Vittoria Fallanca offers a fresh way to capture the essentially gerundive nature of the Essais, constructing a visual and spatial perspective on a text by tracking multiple lines of thought that are, paradoxically, designed to escape its author's intention and control. In following the vagaries of dessein as it operates in Montaigne, the book also offers a perspective on the relationship between design and literary studies, the ways in which design can be put in our critical approaches as readers of literature, with a focus on the text as an object of use. Far from an end-oriented practice of self- or artistic control, design emerges in this book as a chancy, experimental encounter between mind and world.
The Design of Montaigne's Essais features in the following genres: Drawing and drawings, History of art, Literary studies: general
The Design of Montaigne's Essais is available in Hardback
The Design of Montaigne's Essais was written by Vittoria Fallanca and published by Oxford University Press an imprint of OUP OXFORD
The Design of Montaigne's Essais has 240 pages
Yes it is part of Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs series
£72.90