Any fans of H.D. Thoreau (Walden) ?

[RandB]

I was wondering if anyone else out there enjoys the writing of Henry David Thoreau. Maybe some other old folks like me, nineteenth century writers don't seem to be in favor much these days!
Anyway, if you do like him, I found a neat blog recently while blundering around the internet.
http://blogthoreau.blogspot.com/

It is a blog as if written by Thoreau himself, every day it has an entry from his years of journals, on the same date as the current day. Some of the entries are quite timeless, and always interesting...

[TurnerHill]

Hank was just a boy who built himself a "fort" in the woods. Someone else's woods, at that. Did you know his mom brought him meals? It's actually true, you can look it up.

[gunsmithgirl]

I have tried time and time again and could never follow the book.

[Harry Chickpea]

His mother was the more interesting person. She was quite a free spirit with a lot of brains.

[soulsurvivor]

Thanks for the link. I need to expand my reading selection and this will help.

[sgl42]

i read walden about 2 decades ago when i was about late high school or college age. one of my favorite books of all time. found more wisdom packed in that one book than anything i'd read before and probably since. can't say as i've read it again recently tho, but sometimes i google to try to find an exact quote that i vaguely remember from his book.

--sgl

[petefarms]

He was as good an american writer as any, been years since I read his books, family, job, farming but first rate.

[glazed]

Originally Posted by TurnerHill

Hank was just a boy who built himself a "fort" in the woods. Someone else's woods, at that.

He was young (late-20's) and that "someone else" would be Ralph Waldo Emerson ... but I bet you already knew that

Originally Posted by gunsmithgirl

I have tried time and time again and could never follow the book.

Isn't it funny how an author who constantly stressed "simplify, simplify, simplify" should also write some of the most complex paragraphs in the English language?!?

Even Emerson said reading it made him 'nervous and wretched.'

Had Henry left his original journal/notes alone, and not revised it for seven years to the point of dang-near fiction, it would have been much better ... but, then, he was striving for a place in the literary movement that became known as pastoral transendentalism.


Another interesting read is Thoreau's Resistance to Civil Government ... I remember the funniest quote from a review of that book after it was first published ... it's in my notes somewhere .. lemme look for it.



ETA:

Here it is ... this is a [hilarious] critical review of Resistance to Civil Government at the time of its publication:

"We must dismiss Mr. Thoreau with an earnest prayer that he may become a better subject in time, or else take a trip to France, and preach his doctrine of resistance to the red republicans."

[RandB]

I know all those things, I read biographies of him years ago. Few writers are everything they represent themselves to be...
But, I have always enjoyed his nature writings, particularly from the journals. I thought this blog is a neat format - Just a short selection every day, nothing too overwhelming. If nothing else, it makes me stop and think about what was happening on this day, 150 or so years ago.

[NickieL]

I'm a fan...I have several of his books. I read them often.

[Michael Kawalek]

Originally Posted by gunsmithgirl

I have tried time and time again and could never follow the book.

It helps a lot to have an annotated copy (explanations of obscure references).
I know, Walden is NOT light reading. Thoreau could be taking about the Mexican war in one paragraph, then ancient Greeks in the next.

If you want to sample something else by Thoreau, try "Slavery in Massachusetts". Profound and hard hitting, with a totally different style than "Walden Pond".

Lets remember now that there are some compelling reasons not to emulate Thoreau. He was an advocate of slash and burn agriculture rather than sustainable husbandry, he quit his sustainable living experiment after trying it for less than 2 years, and he died without a family at the age of 46!
Michael

[kitschicat]

I read Walden in high school, and in fact, my teacher, Larry Cates, let me keep my copy of the book because I enjoyed it so much. I also enjoyed many of Emerson's writings.

[Jan Doling]

He died from pneumonia....no central heat in that cabin!

[CarolynRenee]

As much as I enjoyed reading Walden, I do have to admit that, to put it bluntly, he didn't know when to shut up. Or at least put a period somewhere in his page-long paragraphs.

You think reading Walden was tough? I read Walden ALOUD to my infant during all those hours of burping, rocking & feeding her. It was EXHAUSTING....not the baby, but the reading!

[Jerngen]

LOL!!!
I enjoy his works and have a couple on my shelf. Thanks for the link