Natural Life: Thoreau's Worldly Transcendentalism [Hardcover]

David Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2004

"An essential step in Thoreau’s recovery of a ‘natural life’ is to reawaken and expand his awareness of the present moment, not only in the sense of knowing more of the world around him, but of entering into it fully. Admitting in Walden that ‘I did not read books the first summer; I hoed beans,’ he also confesses to moments in which he neglected both of these conflicting duties. . . . In periods of reverie, Thoreau gave himself over to his senses, finding a fulfillment in his own attentive presence at the pond and the surrounding hills."—from Natural Life

Henry David Thoreau’s Walden was first published 150 years ago, an event celebrated by many gatherings scheduled for 2004 and marked by the publication of this exceptional book. David M. Robinson tells the story of a mind at work, focusing on Thoreau’s idea of "natural life" as both a subject of study and a model for personal growth and ethical purpose. Robinson traces Thoreau’s struggle to find a fulfilling vocation and his gradual recovery from his grief over the loss of his brother.

Robinson emphasizes Thoreau’s development of the credo of living a "natural life," a phrase drawn from his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. The depiction of the contemplative life close to nature in Walden exemplifies this credo. But it is also fulfilled through Thoreau’s later life as a saunterer in the fields and forests around Concord, devoted to his studies of the natural world and dedicated to a life of principle.

Natural Life takes note of and encourages growing interest in the later phase of Thoreau’s career and his engagement with science and natural history. Robinson looks closely at Walden and the essays and natural history projects that followed it, such as "Walking" and "Wild Apples," and the remarkable and little-observed writing on night and moonlight found in Thoreau’s journal.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"The Thoreau of steadfast thought and of endless sauntering are both fully present in these pages. There is, in David M. Robinson's writing, a fullness of fact, a minimum of supposition, and a sense altogether of curiosity and appreciation for his subject. Natural Life is a testament to the presence, in Thoreau's life, of his grief, indecision, persistence, declarative joy, astonishing recordation of the works of the earth, and inspirational thought."—Mary Oliver

"This is the best, most thoughtful, most carefully worked out account of Thoreau’s major ideas that I know. No lover of Thoreau can afford to miss this book. Just as reading Thoreau restores one’s faith in an older and better America, so David M. Robinson’s warm, informed, and brilliant writing restores one’s faith in the modern American intellectual appreciation of that other and earlier America."—Robert D. Richardson Jr., author of Emerson: The Mind on Fire

"Natural Life is a deeply informed and wonderfully discerning guide to Thoreau's thought and writing, equally valuable for the light it sheds on Thoreau's individual works and for its grasp of the evolution of Thoreau's whole career as a continuous process of unfolding."--Lawrence Buell, Harvard University, author of Literary Transcendentalism; The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture; and Emerson

About the Author

David M. Robinson is Oregon Professor of English and Director of the Center for the Humanities at Oregon State University. He is the author of Emerson and the Conduct of Life and editor of The Spiritual Emerson, among many other books.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press; First edition (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080144313X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801443138
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #413,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Critical Study of Thoreau Available, No Question, September 18, 2004

By 

Bradley P. Dean (West Peterborough, NH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Natural Life: Thoreau's Worldly Transcendentalism (Hardcover)

I've been reading Thoreau criticism for well over twenty years now, and I have never been as excited about a critical study of Thoreau. Robinson nails what is most important in Thoreau and then convincingly uses that insight to trace the arc of Thoreau's career. An astonishing achievement, indeed. If you have the time or interest to read only one critical study of Thoreau, this is the study you will want to read. An added bonus is the unusually low price, particularly for a critical study by a university press.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoreau's Path into the Natural World, October 23, 2004

By 

Jay Vogelsong (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Natural Life: Thoreau's Worldly Transcendentalism (Hardcover)

I'm finding out, by reading a fair number of scholarly books on Thoreau, how each author has a somewhat different understanding of Thoreau's interests and intentions. Of course, no one would wish to write what someone else had already written, but I also suspect Thoreau was such a unique individual that he can't easily be fitted into our preferred categories.

In this book, the specific emphasis is on Thoreau's most complex and rewarding relationship--his on-going discourse with the natural world itself. It traces Thoreau's disappointment with and estrangement from the world of men, and his simultaneous exploration of and integration practically into the landscape itself. Thoreau's books become a record of this experience as well as a ground-breaking path to such a relationship with nature.

This book is also an extended literary analysis, an in-depth, point-by-point discussion of Thoreau's writings. It is certainly well done for what it is, and should be of great interest to dedicated Thoreauvians, aspiring naturalists and intrepid English majors.

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Understanding Thoreau, March 17, 2008

By 

T. Gospodnetich "Chess fanatic" (Zigzag, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Natural Life: Thoreau's Worldly Transcendentalism (Hardcover)

Like Shakespeare said, brief let me be. Ok, this book gives the reader an insight into how Thoreau thought and reacted to the many stimuli he encountered in his journey through life and how this influenced his writings. It gives you an understanding of why he wrote the way he did. This is, after all, essentially why we read Thoreau in the first place: to understand the man and see life through his eyes and mind.