Montaigne vs. Austen
There are many vast differences in the writing techniques of Michel De Montaigne and Jane Austen. Austen had very well organized thoughts that were displayed clearly through out her novel. Where as Montaigne had writing that was more along the lines of his stream of consciousness. Their similarities lie in the fact that they both used their writing to touch on subjects that were important to them.“What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at any given instant.” This quote by David Foster Wallace definitely describes how no matter how hard you try its impossible to describe in words what's on your mind. Montaigne was a good example of this.
Austen used her organized style of writing to portray what social classes were like during the eighteenth century in England. It was easier for readers to understand her writing styles. She was able to get her thoughts across fairly easily. This may contradict the meaning behind Wallace's quote. She focused on describing the characters and settings in her book as vividly as possible.
Montaigne rarely develops his characters at all. He instead moves from topic to topic, discussing each one in a different essay. His thoughts never flow in any type of order. It almost seems as if he just chooses a random subject such as liars or doctors, and writes about his opinions on said topic. His essays were all nonfiction, and mainly opinion based. Montaigne is the very essence of the meaning behind Wallace's quote.
In conclusion, these two writers were very different in their styles and techinques. They both had their own ways of getting their points across to readers. Austen was organized, while Montaigne had a jumble of ideas. These two styles were in my opinion both successful in getting their points across.
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