A Historical Guide to Henry David Thoreau (Historical Guides to American Authors) PDF
Preview A Historical Guide to Henry David Thoreau (Historical Guides to American Authors)
A H I S T O R I C A L G U I D E TO Henry David Thoreau H I S T O R I C A L G U I D E S TO A M E R I C A N A U T H O R S The Historical Guides to American Authors is an interdisciplinary, his- torically sensitive series that combines close attention to the United States' most widely read and studied authors with a strong sense of time, place, and history. Placing each writer in the context of the vi- brant relationship between literature and society, volumes in this series contain historical essays written on subjects of contemporary social, po- litical, and cultural relevance. Each volume also includes a capsule biog- raphy and illustrated chronology detailing important cultural events as they coincided with the author's life and works, while photographs and illustrations dating from the period capture the flavor of the author's time and social milieu. Equally accessible to students of literature and of life, the volumes offer a complete and rounded picture of each au- thor in his or her America. A Historical Guide to Ernest Hemingway Edited by Linda Wagner-Martin A Historical Guide to Walt Whitman Edited by David S. Reynolds A Historical Guide to Ralph Waldo Emerson Edited by Joel Myerson A Historical Guide to Henry David Thoreau Edited by William E. Cain A Historical Guide to Henry David Thoreau EDI T E D BY W I L L I A M E. CA I N OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2OOO OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 2000 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A histroical guide to Henry David Thoreau / edited by William E. Cain. p. cm.—(Historical guides to American authors) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-513862-7;—ISBN 0-19-513863-5 (pbk.) 1. Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Literature and history—United States—History—19th century. 3. Literature and society-—United States-—History—i9th century. I. Cain, William E., 1952- II. Series. PS3O54 .H57 2000 818'.3O9—dc2i 99-055276 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Acknowledgments I am grateful, first of all, to Robert A. Gross, Dana D. Nelson, Lawrence A. Rosenwald, Cecelia Tichi, and Laura Dassow Walls for their excellent work in this volume. I want also to express my thanks to T. Susan Chang, former Humanities Editor at Oxford University Press, for inviting me to be part of the Historical Guides series. Both Elissa Morris and Jennifer Rozgonyi of Ox- ford University Press have also been very helpful and supportive. For their insight and cooperation, I would also like to thank Leslie Wilson, Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library; Ruth R. Rogers and Jill Triplett Bent, Special Collections, Clapp Library, Wellesley College; my colleagues in the English depart- ment of Wellesley College; and my wife Barbara and daughters Julia and Isabel. As I have worked on my sections of this collaborative project, I have thought often of three scholar/critics of American litera- ture: Laurence B. Holland, who taught with uncanny power and passion Thoreau and other writers of the American Renaissance; Richard Poirier, whose forthright, stimulating books and essays I have long admired and from which I have learned so much; and Eric J. Sundquist, whose literary criticism I find inspiring and whom I have known as a friend since our days together in gradu- ate school. This page intentionally left blank Contents Introduction 3 William E. Cain Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862: A Brief Biography 11 William E. Cain THOREAU IN HIS TIME Thoreau, Manhood, and Race: Quiet Desperation versus Representative Isolation 61 Dana D. Nelson Domesticity on Walden Pond 95 Cecelia Tichi Romancing the Real: Thoreau's Technology of Inscription 123 Laura Dassow Walls The Theory, Practice, and Influence of Thoreau's Civil Disobedience 153 Lawrence A. Rosenwald "That Terrible Thoreau": Concord and Its Hermit 181 Robert A. Gross V111 Contents ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGY 243 Bibliographical Essay 265 William E. Cain Contributors 275 Index 277 A H I S T O R I C A L G U I D E TO Henry David Thoreau
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