Henry David Thoreau

[SFG75]

Noticed that we didn't have a thread dedicated to him under the authors section-figured he was about due for some credit. Personally, I enjoy all of his works. I love Civil Disovedience, as well as On Walking. the latter is a small essay on this simple act and enjoying it as well as being "in the moment" so to speak. Of course, who doesn't enjoy Walden? I always like to re-read his works and do so when I'm fortunate enough to have the time. Here are some interesting links that you may enjoy:

Walden online text

HDT quotes

HDT biography and works

[abecedarian]

Thank you for reminding me of yet another writer I want to get to one of these days! Wasn't he a friend of Bronson Alcott's? I remember reading bios of Louisa May Alcott, and seems like he and Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emerson were regular guests at the Alcott home.

[Mari]

Here is my favorite story about Thoreau, from Moncure Conway's Autobiography:

Then there were the huckleberrying parties. These were under the guidance of Thoreau, because he alone knew the precise locality of every variety of the berry. I recall an occasion when little Edward Emerson, carrying a basket of fine huckleberries, had a fall and spilt them all. Great was his distress, and our offers of berries could not console him for the loss of those gathered by himself. But Thoreau came, put his arm around the troubled child, and explained to him that if the crop of huckleberries was to continue, it was necessary that some should be scattered. Nature had provided that little boys should now and then stumble and sow the berries. We shall have a grand lot of bushes and berries in this spot and we shall owe them to you. Edward began to smile.



At one time, Thoreau had to store unsold copies of his book in his attic room:

"They are something more substantial than fame, as my back knows, which has borne them up two flights of stairs. I have now a library of nearly nine hundred volumes, over seven hundred of which I wrote myself."

[SFG75]

Thanks for sharing Mari. The story about the berries and the boy was very touching-definitely a warm man if there ever was one. I also enjoyed the books in the attic line. I can relate as when I move, books alone comprise of the majority of effort the first day.

[Medic_dk4100]

Well I have a link that I found a long time ago, when I googled for Henry David Thoreau and Walden, but because I haven't posted 15 times, I cant share it with you yet.

I've been thinking about reading his book for maybe a year and I was wondering if anybody would give me a reason or two for doing it.

I remember hearing somewhere in a documentary that all american school kids have to read Walden, now why is that??

Is it because it's relevant for todays kids in America or is it because he is a genius or simply because he's become a tradition to read for the American people (like we danes have Hans Christian Andersen whose writings we get in from the day almost when we're born.)??

I hope you can help me with my questions and I will post the link later when I'm allowed :-D

[nomadic myth]

I'm going to read Walden again soon (for the nth time), and also read Cape Cod for the first time.

I read The Maine Woods recently, and found it highly readable, but started A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and only got halfway. It's the first book in like three years I couldn't finish. I'm going to give it a shot again soon, because I want to finish it, and I hope I was just in the wrong mood previously.

[RobertM]

Thoreau=First 'hippie' ever. Gotta love him.

[LoeMa]

I love Walden.
Reading this book makes me always feel better.

[Libre]

Perhaps a non-sequitor, but Walden 2 by B.F. Skinner is a pretty remarkable book too, as I recall.
I just felt someone should mention it.

[nomadic myth]

Originally Posted by nomadic myth

I'm going to read Walden again soon (for the nth time), and also read Cape Cod for the first time.

I read The Maine Woods recently, and found it highly readable, but started A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and only got halfway. It's the first book in like three years I couldn't finish. I'm going to give it a shot again soon, because I want to finish it, and I hope I was just in the wrong mood previously.

Okay, I finished A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, and in my opinion it's quite dull.

But, I'm re-reading Walden now, and re-loving it.

Oh, Thoreau, you grumpy comedian:

"As for the Pyramids, there is nothing to wonder at in them
so much as the fact that so many men could be found degraded enough
to spend their lives constructing a tomb for some ambitious booby,
whom it would have been wiser and manlier to have drowned in the
Nile, and then given his body to the dogs. I might possibly invent
some excuse for them and him, but I have no time for it."

[silverseason]

Originally Posted by Medic_dk4100

I've been thinking about reading his book for maybe a year and I was wondering if anybody would give me a reason or two for doing it.

I remember hearing somewhere in a documentary that all american school kids have to read Walden, now why is that??

You should read Thoreau because he writes good tough prose and makes you think.

I wish all school kids did read Walden, but many are not capable of it and some school districts find him dangerous. Thoreau was a strong individualist. If 99 citizens obey a law and one individual believes that the law is wrong, that individual has the right to reject it. The individual conscience is supreme over the state and the state can only derive any moral authority it may have from the agreement of many individual consciences.

Sometimes people wonder why Thoreau begins Walden with a chapter on Economy and talks about what it costs to build his hut and the state of his bean crop. He knows that you can't keep your independence - your ability to reject that law - unless you have assured your economic existence and are not beholden to others.

The extreme of this can be very dangerous to the community, but that doesn't worry Thoreau. He knows that there are enough non-individualists to take care of the needs of the community.

[nomadic myth]

I'm trying to figure out how to implement Thoreau's ideas into my life without quitting my teaching job and building a cabin in the woods.

I think I have a decent start since I don't waste money on material goods - buying only what's needed and making good use of hand-me-downs from relatives - but I don't feel independent enough yet. I feel tied to the "system".

[silverseason]

Originally Posted by nomadic myth

I'm trying to figure out how to implement Thoreau's ideas into my life without quitting my teaching job and building a cabin in the woods.

Thoreau gained two important things from his cabin in the woods: (1) independence, (2) absorption in nature.

The independence was a real enough, but also dependent on others. He could walk into Concord to have dinner with Emerson. (I wonder if he ever invited him back. Cooking dinner for others is a long way from independence, but fair is fair.)

You are working on the independence. How about the nature part?

[nomadic myth]

Originally Posted by silverseason

You are working on the independence. How about the nature part?

The nature is going well. I'm lucky that my mentor is Metis (Canadian, half French - half Indian) and he has given me a direction in life. I'm working on a memoir of my experiences with him / biography of him / historical research work about an Indian god. It keeps me connected to nature despite my living in a large city (the city thing is not so cool).

I'm also fortunate to have planted trees in northern Ontario. Not environmental at all - just a cog in the wheel of the lumber industry - but it gave me a chance to live in the bush for two months.

Also, I'm the type of person that gets excited about a full moon amidst a fireworks show, or who can be more pleased watching a hermit crab for two hours than seeing a Hollywood blockbuster (actually can't stomach those).

I try to have a small ecological footprint as well, but I feel very guilty about yearly inter-continental flights from Korea to Nova Scotia.

[nomadic myth]

Oh yeah, I'm also having trouble with the fact that Thoreau specifically says that what he is doing is better than TEACHING. I'm a teacher!!!