The major works of Emerson's most productive period in their entirety: "Nature: Addresses and Lectures," "Essays: First and Second Series," "Representative Men," "English Traits," and "The Conduct of Life."
Essays and Lectures
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Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
The Library of America is an award-winning, nonprofit program dedicated to publishing America's best and most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts. Hailed as "the most important book-publishing project in the nation's history" (Newsweek), this acclaimed series is restoring America's literary heritage in "the finest-looking, longest-lasting edition ever made" (New Republic).
About the Author
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the son of a Unitarian minister and a chaplain during the American Revolution, was born in 1803 in Boston. He attended the Boston Latin School, and in 1817 entered Harvard, graduating in 1820. Emerson supported himself as a schoolteacher from 1821-26. In 1826 he was "approbated to preach," and in 1829 became pastor of the Scond Church (Unitarian) in Boston. That same year he married Ellen Louise Tucker, who was to die of tuberculosis only seventeen months later. In 1832 Emerson resigned his pastorate and traveled to Eurpe, where he met Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Carlyle. He settled in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1834, where he began a new career as a public lecturer, and married Lydia Jackson a year later. A group that gathered around Emerson in Concord came to be known as "the Concord school," and included Bronson Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller. Every year Emerson made a lecture tour; and these lectures were the source of most of his essays. Nature (1836), his first published work, contained the essence of his transcendental philosophy , which views the world of phenomena as a sort of symbol of the inner life and emphasizes individual freedom and self-reliance. Emerson's address to the Phi Beta Kappa society of Harvard (1837) and another address to the graduating class of the Harvard Divinity School (1838) applied his doctrine to the scholar and the clergyman, provoking sharp controversy. An ardent abolitionist, Emerson lectured and wrote widely against slavery from the 1840's through the Civil War. His principal publications include two volumes of Essays (1841, 1844), Poems (1847), Representative Men (1850), The Conduct of Life (1860), and Society and Solitude (1870). He died of pneumonia in 1882 and was buried in Concord.
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More About the Author
There are few people as quoted and quotable as Ralph Waldo Emerson, founder of the transcendental movement and author of classic essays as Self-Reliance, Nature, and The American Scholar. Emerson began his career as a Unitarian minister and later put those oratory skills to move us toward a better society. More remains written on him than by him.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
85 of 93 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is the complete essays and lectures of ralph waldo emerson. It contains everything you could want from emerson, save his journals. His writing is beauty in it's truest form. What he speaks is what you have forever felt to be true. When he warns against self-distrust in self-reliance you feel that he is not only speaking to you, but speaking for you. Reading this book is not only seeing what he has written, but is a demonstration of what he has written. When he writes in "self-reliance" of the reoccuring situation where people have to take their truth from another, the medium becomes the message. Emerson's work as presented in this volume has been under rated by philisophical circles for years. Here you will see that not only is he a great essayist, but that (while unconventional)he is a great philosopher.
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Emerson is to the literary world in America as Lincoln was to the political world in the 1860's. His stature as a thinker, writer and public figure to admire brought American literature to new heights.
I think Thoreau has more relevance to us in the year 2004, and had profounder insights, but Emerson, more the academic and intellectual, wrote with the elegance and intelligence of the gods. He was much superior to Thoreau in style and breadth of subject matter, he was more well-rounded and able to connect with his peers, both personally and as an author. And through this intimate friendship and association shared by Emerson and Thoreau, and any literary and intellectual comparison made between these two men, only serves to enhance and expand the other's significance and genius. For me there was an integration and balance, a synergy, almost a partnership, in how they contributed to American literature and the intellectual community.
This collection is a beautiful addition to my library. It contains Emerson's major essays e.g. 'Nature,' 'Beauty,' 'Compensation,' 'Self-Reliance,' and 'The Poet' and his public addresses e.g. 'The American Scholar,' (a big favorite of mine.)
This is a quality collection at a reasonable price. I was actually concerned that the quality might suffer because I thought the price so low. But it was not compromised. Both Emerson and this collection should be in your library. Highly recommended.
I think Thoreau has more relevance to us in the year 2004, and had profounder insights, but Emerson, more the academic and intellectual, wrote with the elegance and intelligence of the gods. He was much superior to Thoreau in style and breadth of subject matter, he was more well-rounded and able to connect with his peers, both personally and as an author. And through this intimate friendship and association shared by Emerson and Thoreau, and any literary and intellectual comparison made between these two men, only serves to enhance and expand the other's significance and genius. For me there was an integration and balance, a synergy, almost a partnership, in how they contributed to American literature and the intellectual community.
This collection is a beautiful addition to my library. It contains Emerson's major essays e.g. 'Nature,' 'Beauty,' 'Compensation,' 'Self-Reliance,' and 'The Poet' and his public addresses e.g. 'The American Scholar,' (a big favorite of mine.)
This is a quality collection at a reasonable price. I was actually concerned that the quality might suffer because I thought the price so low. But it was not compromised. Both Emerson and this collection should be in your library. Highly recommended.
56 of 65 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I go about the process of reading with a pencil or a pen, underlining now and then when I'm struck by something. Opening this very generous volume of Emerson's writings, I found myself underlining every sentence, every word, so that by the second or third page, I just gave up and made a mental note from then on to consider everything in the book as being underlined. Whoever you are and wherever you are (yes, even if you're from the South, as Emerson could display a decidedly anti-Southern slant), you're sure to find something in his work--many things probably--that will stay with you indefinitely. The Emerson of "Self-Reliance"--genius as he is--is trying to alert each of us to our own genius. It is the ultimate "self-help" book. "A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages." If this seems somewhat contradictory coming from Emerson, you need only read a few pages further and Emerson will set you straight on contrariety.
Along with all these wonderful essays and lectures, this 1,300-page Library of America hardbound edition also has his astonishing book "The Conduct of Life" and assorted uncollected prose. Emerson also left behind a lifetime's worth of journals, which I've heard are equally great, and I very much look forward to poring over them in the future.
Along with all these wonderful essays and lectures, this 1,300-page Library of America hardbound edition also has his astonishing book "The Conduct of Life" and assorted uncollected prose. Emerson also left behind a lifetime's worth of journals, which I've heard are equally great, and I very much look forward to poring over them in the future.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great work from the champion.
This book is long and great. He seems to contradict sometimes in Nature, but he always has his way to greatness, "I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Augusto Alvaro
I always enjoy reading Emerson
It came in perfect condition and on time. I am very satisfied with my purchase.
Published on January 19, 2009 by Joel Nelson
Wonderful
Like fine wine, these essays get better with time. Beware of trying to rush through these fine philosophical teachings. Like Maxwell house, it's good to the last drop!
Published on August 18, 2008 by Mark G. Wagner
A complete work of art
If you're considering more than one selection, stop. This is the only collection you need from Emerson. Read more
Published on August 17, 2008 by Stacey Estrella
The Most American Book of the Collection
I have lately developed a love affair with the Library of America, and this is its most important book. Read more
Published on August 1, 2008 by R. E. Tenney
Poverty with Dignity
I haven't even bought this Lib. of America edition and I know it is important. I have the Thoreau collection and all I have to say is that these New England writers of that era... Read more
Published on February 10, 2008 by Earl C. Robicheaux
The philosopher of America
It is wonderful to have all of Emerson's essays in one volume. Like his great pupil and friend Thoreau , Emerson is a poetic thinker of the highest order. Read more
Published on December 5, 2006 by Shalom Freedman
Powerful and stirring prose that still ring in the American spirit
I cannot think of another writer whose prose reads with as much poetic power as Emerson. The poetic aspect comes from the richness of meaning that continue to manifest as one... Read more
Published on October 26, 2006 by Craig Matteson
A Life Companion
I think it is probably safe to assert that to read Emerson is to be forever indebted to him. His wording, his clearness of thought, his determination, his warmth... Read more
Published on August 31, 2006 by Bati
Brilliant
Ralph Waldo Emerson was and is by far one of the most brilliant writers of American Literature. His writings are his collection of thoughts...both wise, and complicated. Read more
Published on February 26, 2006 by A. Apgar
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
A NOBLER WANT of man is served by nature, namely, the love of Beauty. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, New England, House of Commons, Lord Bacon, Sir Philip Sidney, Ben Jonson, Michel Angelo, Man Thinking, George Fox, House of Lords, Lord Elgin, New Hampshire, New Orleans, Julius Cæsar, Lord Brooke, Queen Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh, Supreme Being, Sydney Smith, West Indies, White Hills, Beautiful Necessity, British Museum, Conjugal Love, Duchess of Hamilton New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
A NOBLER WANT of man is served by nature, namely, the love of Beauty. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, New England, House of Commons, Lord Bacon, Sir Philip Sidney, Ben Jonson, Michel Angelo, Man Thinking, George Fox, House of Lords, Lord Elgin, New Hampshire, New Orleans, Julius Cæsar, Lord Brooke, Queen Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh, Supreme Being, Sydney Smith, West Indies, White Hills, Beautiful Necessity, British Museum, Conjugal Love, Duchess of Hamilton New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 65
books:
See all 65 books this book cites
- Representative Men by Ralph Waldo Emerson on 4 pages
- The Conduct Of Life by Ralph Waldo Emerson on 4 pages
- The Animal Kingdom (Volume 2) by Emanuel Swedenborg on page 668, page 671, and page 681
- English Traits by Ralph Waldo Emerson in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Walden Pond (NE Landmarks) by Bonnie McGrath in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 65 books this book cites
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