Select Essays

Michel Eyquem, Seigneur de Montaigne (1533-1592), commonly known as Michel de Montaigne, was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance and the originator of the genre of the essay. Born near Bordeaux, Montaigne studied law and became a member of the Parliament of Bordeaux in 1557. In 1571, he retired to his castle at Montaigne and began to compose his many essays, on such diverse subjects as friendship, fear, education, and imagination, which were published in three volumes from 1580 to 1588. His work is characterized by skepticism, a desire for truth, and a driving interest in the human character, and has influenced writers across the ages, including Shakespeare, Descartes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Virginia Woolf.

Clive Chafer is a professional actor, director, producer, and theater instructor. Originally from England, he has performed on stage in the United States at many theaters, including California Shakespeare Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Magic Theater, Utah Shakespearean Festival, and American Players Theater (Wisconsin). In 1993, he founded TheatreFIRST, the San Francisco Bay Area's only internationally oriented theater. He has taught theater at the University of San Francisco and the University of Portsmouth in the UK. His audiobook credits include The Last Lion, part three of William Manchester's epic biography of Winston Churchill (for which he won an AudioFile Earphones Award), Colin Cotterill's series of crime novels set in 1970s Laos and featuring the wonderful character of Siri Paiboun, the country's only coroner, and Cornelius Ryan's seminal WWII accounts The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far. He gained his Master of Fine Arts in staging Shakespeare from Exeter University in 2000 and graduated from the Drama Studio London in 1983. He has been a member of Equity and SAG-AFTRA for over twenty-five years. He recently moved back to his native England, and continues to narrate, act, and teach theater there.