The True American: On Henry David Thoreau

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/08/17/henry-david-thoreau-true-american/

by samclemens • 9 years ago

56 21 9 years ago

For a better, more critical take on Mr. Thoreau, see: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/pond-scum

"The real Thoreau was, in the fullest sense of the word, self-obsessed: narcissistic, fanatical about self-control, adamant that he required nothing beyond himself to understand and thrive in the world."

Some highlights:

-HDT was unmoved by dead bodies from a shipwreck, thought they "enhanced" the beauty of the beach.

-A 6' x 3' toolshed with air holes would "make a fine home" (he added he was "not jesting")

-He turned up his nose at food: explicitly condemning salt (the "grossest of groceries") and jam and exhorted readers to limit themselves to 1 meal a day, at most

-He despised his admirers and was superior, condescending and rude, referring to his fellow Concordians as "pygmies and manikins."

-He didn't believed in philanthropy or helping others because it he had "tried it fairly" but it "didn't agree with [his] constitution."

Read on for more.

There are many great 19th C American writers (some ex: https://www.thoughtco.com/notable-authors-of-the-19th-centur...). HDT is not one of them, IMHO.

leggomylibro2• 9 years ago

His ascetic views also got a boost from being able to live rent-free on his buddy's beautiful land which contains Walden Pond.

sniff. Truly a great American hero.

pklausler• 9 years ago

With his mother still doing his laundry. Not exactly Lewis and Clark grade adversity.

DougWebb• 9 years ago

A bunch of years ago, I had a business trip to Concord. I re-read Walden Pond shortly before going, and I stayed in the Inn that his parents owned (it's still there.) I didn't actually visit Walden Pond (it's still there too) but I was surprised at how close it is to the Inn at the center of Concord. He described it as if he had set off into the wilderness to survive on his own, but it really is more like he built a treehouse in his neighbor's back yard.

This map [0] shows the center of town at the top, and his cabin 1.3 miles away at the bottom.

[0] https://goo.gl/maps/Wih3s6iTJ3u

shoefly• 9 years ago

Sums up my interpretation of his writing, which I was forced to digest at uni.

eighthnate2• 9 years ago

Some highlights:

Mahler was antisemitc. Pope was sexist. If you judged works of art by who the author is, then most works of art would be viewed as rubbish.

HDT is not one of them, IMHO.

Just because you disagree with his ascetic and "anti-social" lifestyle doesn't mean he wasn't a great writer. Walden and Civil Disobedience are easily some of the most important and iconic writings in american literature.

Many of the great writers are eccentric. You can't judge works of art based on who the author is.

The amount of anti-intellectualism pushed by the social justice left is rather alarming. If HDT wasn't a great american writer, then there is no such thing as a "great american writer".

I just had a debate the other day with someone who claimed Mark Twain was a terrible writer because he used the N word in his books. Now I have to defend Thoreau? What's going on here?

uhhhouses• 9 years ago

Well, you don't have to defend Thoreau, just his writings.

Which I would appreciate, BTW—I loved walden pond as a kid, but now it reads like a friend's #minimalism #tinyhouse medium blog. Civil disobedience was obsoleted by people with causes saying everything better. Where is the value in his text in contemporary society outside of nostalgia?

vikeri• 9 years ago

While I agree with you on HDT's quality as an author I'm confused by how the parent comment was _social justice left_. Could you please clarify?

CharlesW• 9 years ago

What's going on here?

Nothing new, I think. The complications of Good Art created by Bad People has always been a thing in the modern world (see Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Chris Brown, Roman Polanski, etc.).

hellofunk2• 9 years ago

Mahler was antisemitc.

Mahler was a Jew.

NiklasMort2• 9 years ago

You should read about how nuts some famous scientists were... point being: Author!=Authors Works

discreteevent• 9 years ago

Unfortunately this article admires the man but claims his works are the second biggest bore in English Literature.

https://www.ft.com/content/9c09b94e-7cfb-11e7-ab01-a13271d1e...

hellofunk2• 9 years ago

exhorted readers to limit themselves to 1 meal a day, at most

This is actually something that a lot of people are doing today, and many nutritionists recommend calorie restrictive diets along these lines. Whether or not you also do this, I see no relevance to the output of HDT's work and its value.

He despised his admirers and was superior, condescending and rude,

You've just described the majority of major artists who have ever lived. As well as many scientists. Einstein was arrogant too, but who cares, really.

mcguire• 9 years ago

From this article:

"The view of Thoreau as a hypocritical jerk is alive and well. In an article about Walden in The New Yorker (October 19, 2015), Kathryn Schulz works herself into a froth of indignation as she denounces him for his “hypocrisy, his sanctimony, his dour asceticism, and his scorn,” claiming, as many others before her have, that “he was as parochial as he was egotistical.” Thoreau does Schulz one better in Walden, where he writes: “I never knew, and never shall know, a worse man than myself.”"

nsparrow• 9 years ago

Robert Harrison, the author and professor at Stanford, also has a podcast, Entitled Opinions, that may be of interest to HN [1]. He recently did a fascinating episode on artificial intelligence & the singularity, approaching AI from a philosophical standpoint with a Stanford computer scientist [2].

[1] https://entitledopinions.stanford.edu/

[2] https://entitledopinions.stanford.edu/sam-ginn-singularity

dmckeon• 9 years ago

As technologists, let's not overlook Thoreau's tech work [0] - he made the lead pencil into a profitable product in the US: and could be said to have invented the "Number 2 lead pencil" in that the technique of blending graphite and clay made it possible for his family's company to produce different grades of pencils.

To be fair, European pencil-makers were using a similar process as a trade secret at the time, and the market share of Thoreau pencils was helped by high tariffs. Still, HDT was not just a dreamer and writer in the woods, but a technologist improving the very tools he wrote with.

[0] http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/482...

The True American: On Henry David Thoreau

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