Henry David Thoreau: Studies and Commentaries

Henry David Thoreau: Studies and Commentaries PDF

Author: Walter Harding

Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press

Published: 1972

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780838610282

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A record of the speeches of scholars and creative artists who appeared at the Thoreau Festival at Nassau College, each with a special insight and perspective on Thoreau.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau PDF

Author: Laura Dassow Walls

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2017-07-07

Total Pages: 668

ISBN-13: 022634469X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"[The author] traces the full arc of Thoreau’s life, from his early days in the intellectual hothouse of Concord, when the American experiment still felt fresh and precarious, and 'America was a family affair, earned by one generation and about to pass to the next.' By the time he died in 1862, at only forty-four years of age, Thoreau had witnessed the transformation of his world from a community of farmers and artisans into a bustling, interconnected commercial nation. What did that portend for the contemplative individual and abundant, wild nature that Thoreau celebrated? Drawing on Thoreau’s copious writings, published and unpublished, [the author] presents a Thoreau vigorously alive in all his quirks and contradictions: the young man shattered by the sudden death of his brother; the ambitious Harvard College student; the ecstatic visionary who closed Walden with an account of the regenerative power of the Cosmos. We meet the man whose belief in human freedom and the value of labor made him an uncompromising abolitionist; the solitary walker who found society in nature, but also found his own nature in the society of which he was a deeply interwoven part. And, running through it all, Thoreau the passionate naturalist, who, long before the age of environmentalism, saw tragedy for future generations in the human heedlessness around him."--

Walden

Walden PDF

Author: Henry David Thoreau

Publisher:

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

On the Duty of Civil Disobedience: This is Thoreau's classic protest against government's interference with individual liberty. One of the most famous essays ever written, it came to the attention of Gandhi and formed the basis for his passive resistance movement.

Henry David Thoreau in Context

Henry David Thoreau in Context PDF

Author: James S. Finley

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-04-07

Total Pages: 655

ISBN-13: 1108500978

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Well known for his contrarianism and solitude, Henry David Thoreau was nonetheless deeply responsive to the world around him. His writings bear the traces of his wide-ranging reading, travels, political interests, and social influences. Henry David Thoreau in Context brings together leading scholars of Thoreau and nineteenth-century American literature and culture and presents original research, valuable synthesis of historical and scholarly sources, and innovative readings of Thoreau's texts. Across thirty-four chapters, this collection reveals a Thoreau deeply concerned with and shaped by a diverse range of environments, intellectual traditions, social issues, and modes of scientific practice. Essays also illuminate important posthumous contexts and consider the specific challenges of contextualizing Thoreau today. This collection provides a rich understanding of Thoreau and nineteenth-century American literature, political activism, and environmentalist thinking that will be a vital resource for students, teachers, scholars, and general readers.

The Thoreau Centennial

The Thoreau Centennial PDF

Author: Walter Roy Harding

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1964-06-01

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 9780873950152

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The papers gathered in this volume were among those delivered at the Thoreau Centennial meetings at the Pierpont Morgan Library, the Community Church, and New York University's Hall of Fame in New York City on May 5 and 6, 1962, under the sponsorship of the Thoreau Society, and under the leadership of Professor Lewis Leary of Columbia University, then President of the Thoreau Society. The wide variety in subject and approach of these papers is in itself ample indication of Thoreau's multifaceted appeal today: Carl F. Hovde, Associate Professor of English at Columbia University, studies Thoreau's conception of character in his first book and demonstrates why character development was always secondary to theme in his writings. Joseph J. Moldenhauser, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Texas, comments on Thoreau as a literary stylist and on his use of imagery and figurative language. Walter Harding, Chairman of the English Department at the State University College at Geneseo, New York, and Secretary of the Thoreau Society, in an adaptation of the final chapter of his forthcoming biography, presents the facts about Thoreau's last days. Raymond Adams, Professor of English at the University of North Carolina and dean of present-day Thoreau scholars, comments on the recent surge of interest in Thoreau's life and writings. J. Lyndon Shanley, Professor of English at Northwestern University and former President of the Thoreau Society, re-examines the persistent claims of disillusionment and disappointment surrounding Thoreau's final years. Reginald L. Cook, Chairman of the American Literature Department at Middlebury College, Director of the Breadloaf School of English, demonstrates the affinities of two of our greatest American authors, Thoreau and Frost. Howard Mumford Jones, Professor Emeritus of English at Harvard University, examines Thoreau as an aphorist and a moralist in the light of his Journal. The Rev. Donald S. Harrington, minister of the Community Church in New York City, discusses Thoreau's philosophy as a guide for life today. Raymond Adams discusses why Thoreau, a century after his death, was finally chosen for inclusion in the Hall of Fame. His Excellency Braj Kumar Nehru, Ambassador to the United States from India, in recognition of Thoreau's influence on one of the greatest men of our century, Mahatma Gandhi, pays tribute to Thoreau. It has taken Henry David Thoreau a full century to attain his present high peak of fame and honor, but from the wide range of this collection of papers we can see how diversified that fame is. Above all, he is honored as a Transcendentalist--as a spiritual pioneer who points the way to a better life and as one who is certain that if we but work for it, we can attain that better life here on earth.

Walden's Shore

Walden's Shore PDF

Author: Robert M. Thorson

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2014-01-06

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 0674728408

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Walden's Shore explores Thoreau's understanding of the "living rock" on which life's complexity depends--not as metaphor but as physical science. Robert Thorson's subject is Thoreau the rock and mineral collector, interpreter of landscapes, and field scientist whose compass and measuring stick were as important to him as his plant press.

Henry David Thoreau and the Moral Agency of Knowing

Henry David Thoreau and the Moral Agency of Knowing PDF

Author: Alfred I. Tauber

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2003-05

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 0520239156

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"Tauber's book is encyclopedic—not only a revealing and comprehensive study of Thoreau but also a full vision of the Romantic Weltanschauung and its relevance to contemporary concerns in philosophy, science, and poetics. While this scope is wildly ambitious, Tauber admirably delivers, always informing his parts with the whole, consistently altering the whole with his parts."—Eric Wilson, author of Emerson's Sublime Science "In arguing for the centrally moral and ethical value of Thoreau's works, Tauber is taking a brave stance in these slippery postmodern times…. It's one thing to praise Thoreau for his opposition to the Mexican War, his philosophy of passive resistance, and his fervent opposition to slavery. It's quite another to argue that his entire project—his whole sense of identity, self-formation, and his relation to nature—is part of a deeply moral enterprise….Thoreau's modernity has been defined in many ways in recent years. Tauber adds another important and distinctive dimension to this discussion."—H. Daniel Peck, John Guy Vassar Professor of English, Vassar College

Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience PDF

Author: Henry David Thoreau

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2015-05-26

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 1504013778

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Thoreau advocates for nonviolent protest in his classic manifesto Motivated by his disgust with the US government, Henry David Thoreau’s seminal philosophical essay enjoins individuals to stand against the ruling forces that seek to erase their free will. It is the duty of a good citizen, he argues, not only to disobey a bad law, but also to protest an unjust government. His message of nonviolence and appeal to value one’s own conscience over political legislation have resonated throughout American and world history. Peppered with the author’s poetry and social commentary, Civil Disobedience has become a manifesto for civil dissidents, revolutionaries, and protestors everywhere. Indeed, originally so unpopular with readers that Thoreau was forced to buy back over half of the books from his publisher, this work has gone on to inspire the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.