Learning from Thoreau
«An inimitable and wholly original meditation on Thoreau, who emerges here as a profoundly modern thinker in his own right. By placing Thoreau in counterpoint with a rich and often surprising array of contemporary writers, philosophers, and artists, Menard takes us on an exhilarating intellectual journey, spiraling upward from intimacy with the earth to the most speculative of prospects. Along the way, he renews our sense of beauty, deepens our capacity for ethical choice, and reminds us how to learn from the very act of learning. Thoreau is among America’s most revered and yet also despised writers; he’s also among our most misread and misunderstood. Mercifully, the bicentennial of his birth seems to have summoned forth from writers and scholars books that can help us see Thoreau more clearly and anew, among them this perceptive book-length essay by Andrew Menard. Revisiting Walden and Walden, bringing to both an attentive eye, drawing from a reservoir of knowledge, Menard discovers a protomodernist Thoreau who bears little resemblance to the prickly hermit of slander and lore. Learning from Thoreau eloquently demonstrates that, from Thoreau and of Thoreau, we still have plenty to learn. Salient quotes from a spectrum of thinkers, writers, and artists are recruited to illuminate Thoreau … What interests Menard is not to lay down monuments to excellence, however, but rather to investigate what animated Thoreau as a creative artist and naturalist, how he found his sui generis style.»
Learning from Thoreau is an intimate intellectual walk with America's most edgy and original environmentalist. The thrust of the book consists not in learning about Thoreau from an intermediary but, as the title suggests, in learning from Thoreau along with the authorwhose lifelong engagement with this genius of the natural world leads him to examine the process of learning from an admired model. Les mer
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Detaljer
- Forlag
- University of Georgia Press
- Språk
- Engelsk
- ISBN
- 9780820353449
- Utgivelsesår
- 2018
Anmeldelser
«An inimitable and wholly original meditation on Thoreau, who emerges here as a profoundly modern thinker in his own right. By placing Thoreau in counterpoint with a rich and often surprising array of contemporary writers, philosophers, and artists, Menard takes us on an exhilarating intellectual journey, spiraling upward from intimacy with the earth to the most speculative of prospects. Along the way, he renews our sense of beauty, deepens our capacity for ethical choice, and reminds us how to learn from the very act of learning. Thoreau is among America’s most revered and yet also despised writers; he’s also among our most misread and misunderstood. Mercifully, the bicentennial of his birth seems to have summoned forth from writers and scholars books that can help us see Thoreau more clearly and anew, among them this perceptive book-length essay by Andrew Menard. Revisiting Walden and Walden, bringing to both an attentive eye, drawing from a reservoir of knowledge, Menard discovers a protomodernist Thoreau who bears little resemblance to the prickly hermit of slander and lore. Learning from Thoreau eloquently demonstrates that, from Thoreau and of Thoreau, we still have plenty to learn. Salient quotes from a spectrum of thinkers, writers, and artists are recruited to illuminate Thoreau … What interests Menard is not to lay down monuments to excellence, however, but rather to investigate what animated Thoreau as a creative artist and naturalist, how he found his sui generis style.»