Excursions

by Henry David Thoreau

Overview

In the publication of The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau, Princeton University Press joins university presses throughout the United States in making the works of major American writers available in comprehensive scholarly editions. This project was inaugurated by the Modern Language Association of America and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Although Thoreau has earned a national and international reputation as a naturalist, social critic and philosopher of human rights, and literary artist of the first rank, no scholarly edition of his complete writings has previously been undertaken. In addition to newly edited texts of his major published works, the edition will include his poetry, translations, correspondence, college essays, and unfinished late natural history projects, "Wild Fruits" and "The Dispersion of Seeds." Thoreau's Journal-the private record of his experiences, the source of his many writings, and a unique literary document in itself-will be printed for the first time in its original, unrevised form, including many previously unpublished passages and notebooks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783985944866
Publisher:	Phoemixx Classics Ebooks
Publication date:	08/19/2021
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	836 KB

About the Author

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, philosopher, and abolitionist who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state. Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism. In 1817, Henry David Thoreau was born in Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1837, taught briefly, then turned to writing and lecturing. Becoming a Transcendentalist and good friend of Emerson, Thoreau lived the life of simplicity he advocated in his writings. His two-year experience in a hut in Walden, on land owned by Emerson, resulted in the classic, Walden: Life in the Woods (1854). During his sojourn there, Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican war, for which he was jailed overnight. His activist convictions were expressed in the groundbreaking On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849). In a diary he noted his disapproval of attempts to convert the Algonquins "from their own superstitions to new ones." In a journal he noted dryly that it is appropriate for a church to be the ugliest building in a village, "because it is the one in which human nature stoops to the lowest and is the most disgraced." (Cited by James A. Haught in 2000 Years of Disbelief.) When Parker Pillsbury sought to talk about religion with Thoreau as he was dying from tuberculosis, Thoreau replied: "One world at a time." Thoreau's philosophy of nonviolent resistance influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. D. 1862.

Date of Birth:

July 12, 1817

Date of Death:

May 6, 1862

Place of Birth:

Concord, Massachusetts

Place of Death:

Concord, Massachusetts

Education:

Concord Academy, 1828-33); Harvard University, 1837

Table of Contents

Natural History of Massachusetts     3
A Walk to Wachusett     29
The Landlord     47
A Winter Walk     55
A Yankee in Canada     79
An Address on the Succession of Forest Trees     165
Walking     185
Autumnal Tints     223
Wild Apples     261
Editorial Appendix
Index     293
Notes on Illustrations     315
Acknowledgments     317
Short Titles     324
Library Symbols     327
Historical Introduction     330
Textual Introduction     364
Headnotes, Textual Notes, and Tables
Natural History of Massachusetts     390
A Walk to Wachusett     403
The Landlord     419
A Winter Walk     425
A Yankee in Canada     471
An Address on the Succession of Forest Trees     544
Walking     561
Autumnal Tints     601
Wild Apples     633
End-of-Line Hyphenation     647

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

'There was an excellent wisdom in him, proper to a rare class of men, which showed him the material world as a means and symbol… he had in a short life exhausted the capabilities of this world; wherever there is knowledge, wherever there is virtue, wherever there is beauty, he will find a home.' —Ralph Waldo Emerson, from his Biographical Sketch

Editorial Reviews

"Presents newly edited texts of nine essays—including some of Thoreau's most popular and engaging works—drawing from his writing career between 1842 and 1862. The collection highlights Thoreau's early use of themes and approaches that recur throughout his work, including explorations of internal and external geography."

Times Higher Education

"Students of textual editing should study this production as a model of the meticulous layers of investigation required to reach the highest standards of their craft. Thanks to Moldenhauer and the many others who assisted with this work, scholars and general readers now have, at long last, a critical text of Thoreau's beloved nature essays, a text that reproduces as closely as possible Thoreau's authorial intentions."—-Laura Dassow Walls, New England Quarterly

"We are grateful to Moldenhauer and Princeton University Press for their continuing dedication to providing modern readers with editions of Thoreau's writings that are sound, beautifully-produced and enduring pieces of scholarship in their own right."—-François Specq, Transatlantica

"Because of Moldenhauer's hard work, we know, in so far as it can be known, that when we read his text, we are reading Thoreau. The text is pure Thoreau, but Moldenhauer deserves a world of credit for making it what it is."—-Robert DeMaria, Amherst Magazine

"These essays are bound to have a growing impact on American culture. It is a pleasure to have them in this historically informative and scrupulously edited new edition."—-David M. Robinson, Thoreau Society Bulletin

From the Publisher

These essays are bound to have a growing impact on American culture. It is a pleasure to have them in this historically informative and scrupulously edited new edition.

Thoreau Society Bulletin - David M. Robinson

Because of Moldenhauer's hard work, we know, in so far as it can be known, that when we read his text, we are reading Thoreau. The text is pure Thoreau, but Moldenhauer deserves a world of credit for making it what it is.

Amherst Magazine - Robert DeMaria

Students of textual editing should study this production as a model of the meticulous layers of investigation required to reach the highest standards of their craft. Thanks to Moldenhauer and the many others who assisted with this work, scholars and general readers now have, at long last, a critical text of Thoreau's beloved nature essays, a text that reproduces as closely as possible Thoreau's authorial intentions.

New England Quarterly - Laura Dassow Walls

We are grateful to Moldenhauer and Princeton University Press for their continuing dedication to providing modern readers with editions of Thoreau's writings that are sound, beautifully-produced and enduring pieces of scholarship in their own right.

Transatlantica - Francois Specq

Presents newly edited texts of nine essays—including some of Thoreau's most popular and engaging works—drawing from his writing career between 1842 and 1862. The collection highlights Thoreau's early use of themes and approaches that recur throughout his work, including explorations of internal and external geography.

Time Magazines Higher Education

These essays are bound to have a growing impact on American culture. It is a pleasure to have them in this historically informative and scrupulously edited new edition.
— David M. Robinson

Thoreau Society Bulletin

Because of Moldenhauer's hard work, we know, in so far as it can be known, that when we read his text, we are reading Thoreau. The text is pure Thoreau, but Moldenhauer deserves a world of credit for making it what it is.
— Robert DeMaria

Amherst Magazine

We are grateful to Moldenhauer and Princeton University Press for their continuing dedication to providing modern readers with editions of Thoreau's writings that are sound, beautifully-produced and enduring pieces of scholarship in their own right.
— François Specq

Transatlantica

Students of textual editing should study this production as a model of the meticulous layers of investigation required to reach the highest standards of their craft. Thanks to Moldenhauer and the many others who assisted with this work, scholars and general readers now have, at long last, a critical text of Thoreau's beloved nature essays, a text that reproduces as closely as possible Thoreau's authorial intentions.
— Laura Dassow Walls

New England Quarterly