Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

ISBN 10: 1554812690 / ISBN 13: 9781554812691

Published by Broadview Press Ltd, 2017

About this Item

Essayist, lecturer, poet, and America s first public intellectual , Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) is the central figure in nineteenth-century American letters and the leader (albeit reluctantly) of the Transcendental group. This collection contains a ran.

Seller Inventory # 596312286

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Publisher: Broadview Press Ltd
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1554812690
• ISBN 13: 9781554812691
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Essayist, lecturer, poet, and America’s first “public intellectual,” Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) is the central figure in nineteenth-century American letters and the leader (albeit reluctantly) of the Transcendental group. A literary mover and shaker, Emerson directed his unpopular early radicalism toward social institutions (the Church, education, literary conventions); by his death in 1882, however, his reputation was already solidifying as a national icon. Somewhere between the iconic sage and the speculative idealist lies an Emerson that students don’t often encounter, a flesh-and-blood figure whose writings testify to his continuing exploration of the individual’s place in an increasingly conformist and crowded world. In its selections and its apparatus, this Broadview edition bridges the gap between Emerson and students by stressing his real-world engagements.

The collection contains a range of prose and poetry addressing some of Emerson’s major concerns―nature and the self, imagination and the poet, religion and social reform―as he explores the enduring question “How shall I live?” Historical appendices include primary materials on Transcendentalism; the contemporary debate about the nature of biblical miracles; other authors’ responses to Emerson as a writer and thinker; and the development of his complex reputation as a representative American.

Copy-texts in this edition are the first published versions of each text, restored here as Emerson’s initial audience would have read them.

About the Author

Robert D. Habich is Professor Emeritus of English at Ball State University and a Past President of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society.