Walden

Henry David Thoreau

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Author Description

'The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation' In 1845 Henry David Thoreau left his home town of Concord, Massachusetts to begin a new life alone, in a rough hut he built himself a mile and a half away on the north-west shore of Walden Pond. Walden is Thoreau's classic autobiographical account of this experiment in solitary living, his refusal to play by the rules of hard work and the accumulation of wealth and above all the freedom it gave him to adapt his living to the natural world around him. This new edition of Walden traces the sources of Thoreau's reading and thinking and considers the author in the context of his birthplace and his sense of its history - social, economic and natural. In addition, an ecological appendix provides modern identifications of the myriad plants and animals to which Thoreau gave increasingly close attention as he became acclimatized to his life in the woods by Walden Pond. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Menrva's Summary

THE THESIS

Can an individual achieve authentic existence by stripping away the artificial demands of modern society and living in deliberate harmony with the natural world? Henry David Thoreau, a central figure in the American Transcendentalist movement, documents his two-year experiment in self-reliance at Walden Pond. He utilizes his observations of the local ecosystem and his own economic calculations to argue that the pursuit of material wealth often obscures the true purpose of human life.

THE SCOPE MAP

What You Will Find

Detailed accounts of cabin construction and subsistence farming
Philosophical reflections on solitude, labor, and social conformity
Observations of the flora and fauna surrounding Walden Pond

Scope Limits

The text does not provide a comprehensive guide to survivalist living
It does not offer a systematic political manifesto, focusing instead on individual moral reform

THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE

Scholars and readers frequently identify this work as a foundational text in American environmental literature and philosophical inquiry. Experts often note the dense, aphoristic nature of the prose, which requires careful reading to fully grasp Thoreau's complex critique of nineteenth-century industrialization.

Page Count:
447

Publication Date:
1999-01-01

Publisher:
OUP Oxford

ISBN-10:
0191606103

ISBN-13:
9780191606106

Philosophy

Memoir

Authors biography

English & College Success

Solitude

United States

Social Life