The death of Montaigne is described in some important documents such as the correspondence between Pierre de Brach, Justus Lipsius and Marie de Gournay, as well as in another letter written by Pasquier. What these «lettres du deuil» do is to reconstruct the philosophical meaning of death, using an entire universe of symbols to represent it. Previously, Montaigne had himself been the only person to witness La Boétie's death, of which he had deconstructed the abstract, merely speculative image in order (...) to emphasize its human dimension. (shrink)