I define creativity as the ability to do great things with few resources. It is a combination of ingenuity, resourcefulness and focus; note that this definition includes a useful output as a key requirement. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) is the archetype of long-term literary creativity; while his ingenuity and resourcefulness earned him a prominent place as an essayist, his focus turned him into a philosopher. What was Montaigne’s purpose in writing? To gather facts, assess them independently, and draw valid conclusions. Every essay written by Montaigne aims at establishing the truth in a particular area, to answer a particular question. Montaigne’s literary output is the result of extreme focus. It shows us how much it is possible to produce by employing very limited resources. Nowadays, we could carry in a tablet or smartphone all the books in Montaigne’s library plus hundreds of other books, but I must hasten to add that our abundance of resources does not necessarily lead to abundance of output, let alone abundance of wisdom. Without creativity, the input will not turn into an output that adds value to our lives, an output that makes us wiser and more effective. To make it worse, too many people mistake randomness for creativity. They believe that random words constitute poetry, or that random shapes and colours constitute an artistic painting. I see little value in randomness, chance or serendipity. They can produce an output, but not a useful or beautiful one. They can consume resources, but they cannot render the spectator or reader happier. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/literary-creativity-in-michel-de-montaignes-essays/