| Started 27 February, 2008 | Finished 29 March, 2008 |
Larzer Ziff, the editor of this collection, credits Emerson (1803-82) with being the centre of the American literary tradition. Emerson came into a world where nature was something to be conquered. It was not valued because it did not have the 'storied associations' of the European landscape. In this view, which prevailed up to the 1830s, imagination was shaped by history - the remembered past of human events.
Emerson's writings elevated nature over history, claiming that 'American history must be the history of nature speaking through men, not of men shaping nature'. His philosophy became the single most powerful force in American intellectual life in the nineteenth century, influencing writers such as Herman Melville, Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau.
The fifteen essays collected here give us a comprehensive cross-section of those writings, covering a period of twenty-six years, from 1836 to 1862. Although I found reading these essays tough going, having to go back over many passages two or three times before fully comprehending them, they reward perseverance. Hidden among the difficult nineteenth-century language are many gems of wisdom, which is why Emerson is possilby one of the most quoted authors.
Emerson was a popular speaker as well as writer. Indeed, he began his career as a preacher, and many of the essays here were originally delivered as lectures after he resigned his post as preacher in 1831.
Apart from the title piece, Nature, Emerson's first published essay, there are a wide range of other subjects covered in this collection: History, Self-Reliance, The Over-soul, Fate, and Experience. There are also biographical discussions on Montaigne, Napolean and Thoreau.
Despite the archaic language and style, many of the ideas expressed by Emerson seem surprisingly modern, and would probably not be out of place if written by a contemporary writer.
The introduction by Ziff gives us an excellent description of Emerson's life and times, and there are suggestions for further reading if you want more detail.
Emerson's complete works span 12 volumes, but I would recommend this book as a great starting point for discovering his writing.
