Apology for the Woman Writing - Jenny Diski

Marie de Gournay was eighteen when she read, and was overwhelmed by, the essays of the French philosopher Montaigne. She had to be revived with hellebore. When she finally met Montaigne, she stabbed herself with a hairpin until the blood ran in order to show her devotion. For the two months they knew each other, he made her his adopted daughter. He died four years later, after which, though scorned by intellectuals, she became his editor.Jenny Diski engages with this passionate and confused relationship between "father and daughter," old writer/young acolyte, possible lovers, using both their voices. In Jenny Diski`s hands their story about absence of the people they love becomes a fascinating tale.