Ground-breaking new essays comparing Shakespeare and Montaigne Shakespeare and Montaigne share a grounded, genial sense of the lived reality of human experience, as well as a surprising depth of engagement with history, literature and philosophy. With celebrated subtlety and incisive humour, both authors investigate abiding questions of epistemology, psychology, theology, ethics, politics and aesthetics. In this collection, distinguished contributors consider these influential, much-beloved figures in light of each other. The English playwright and the French essayist, each in his own fashion, reflect on and evaluate the Renaissance, the Reformation and the rise of new modern perspectives many of us now might readily recognise as our own. Lars Engle is Chapman Professor of English at the University of Tulsa, Patrick Gray is Associate Professor of English Studies and Director of Liberal Arts at Durham University and William M. Hamlin is Professor of English at Washington State University and Bornander Distinguished Professor in the WSU Honors College