Mister Jones's review
Walden: (Writings of Henry D. Thoreau)
by Henry David Thoreau
Well put! I have similarly conflicted feelings about this work, although as I watch many of my "artistic" friends and family age, I am more sympathetic to Thoreaus's mooching, hypocrisy, and fundamental idealism. Perhaps not practical for most of us, but Walden is at least a beautiful escape from the world of 4-dollar gas and global warming.
Mister Jones's review
Walden: (Writings of Henry D. Thoreau) by Henry David Thoreau
Mister Jones's review
rating:
recommended for: Mature, open minded readers
The very first time I read Walden my immediate response was to begin torching its pages one by one and sacrificing each page as literary cow paddies written by a pompous celibate pretentious boob who masqueraded as self-appointed demigogue for the collective conscience of the gods; and of course, when read this way it certainly fits at times Thoreau's rhetoric.
Many years later, I took my paperback copy off my shelf and was ready to pack it up to be dropped off at the nearest thrift shop, but then as I sat on my floor with my fat old textbooks and other worn clothing ready for donation. I begin reading Walden again, and there's just something about it that resonates from another time, another place, and another writer.
Thoreau's conceit can certainly be provocative, but I think he wants that to be exactly the case for his readers; he's mourning the interaction of souls as modernity encroaches upon both the physical landscape and the landscape of the mind.
Living in the woods...more
Many years later, I took my paperback copy off my shelf and was ready to pack it up to be dropped off at the nearest thrift shop, but then as I sat on my floor with my fat old textbooks and other worn clothing ready for donation. I begin reading Walden again, and there's just something about it that resonates from another time, another place, and another writer.
Thoreau's conceit can certainly be provocative, but I think he wants that to be exactly the case for his readers; he's mourning the interaction of souls as modernity encroaches upon both the physical landscape and the landscape of the mind.
Living in the woods...more
Well put! I have similarly conflicted feelings about this work, although as I watch many of my "artistic" friends and family age, I am more sympathetic to Thoreaus's mooching, hypocrisy, and fundamental idealism. Perhaps not practical for most of us, but Walden is at least a beautiful escape from the world of 4-dollar gas and global warming.