Platt, "Reality is fabulous", says Thoreau,"be it life or death, we crave nothing but reality." And then he goes on to describe in precise, accurate, glittering detail the most subtle and minute aspects of life in and about his Walden Pond; the "pulse" of water skaters, for instance, advancing from shore across the surface of the lake. Appearance is reality, Thoreau implies; or so it appears to me. I begin to think he outgrew transcendentalism rather early in his career, at about the same time that he was coming out from under the influence of his one time mentor Emerson. Thoreau and the transcendentalists had little in common--in the long run--but their long noses, as a friend of mine has pointed out.
Ed Abbey, Down the River with Thoreau Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
