Avid readers of Thoreau have long been aware of his saunterings and of their relative import in terms of his excursion pieces. Now for the first time, a Thoreau scholar takes on the question of Thoreau's walking experience. Why did Thoreau devote more time to walking than to any other activity? What influence did his walks have on his daily life? What does his sauntering experience reveal about Thoreau as a person and about his unique brand of Transcendentalism? This book probes every aspect of Thoreau' walks and answers those questions. This is a book about exploration, of nature and self, and is skillfully crafted to reveal Thoreau's personality and beliefs, and in so doing beckons the reader on a saunter through one's own mind and spirit.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not for the casual Thoreauvian,
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This review is from: The Transcendental Saunterer: Thoreau and the Search for Self (Hardcover)
An adaptation of Smith's dissertation, this academic volume finds and interprets many incidents of walking found in Henry David Thoreau's writings, from his journal to his essays, from his poetry to his books. One can't help but wonder why.The author advances his topic through general themes and the various ways in which Thoreau used walking: as the perfect transcendental physical and mental exercise; as the investigation of nature and the wider landscape; as a way to rid the mind and body of civilization in order to think straight; as a way to exhibit nonconformity and individuality; as a way to inspire writing or garnish income by surveying. I find it particularly curious that only two pages are devoted to surveying, which was one of Thoreau's primary means of support and which got him travelling around his town, learning the nooks and crannies of Concord properties, providing the walking experience while allowing him to unearth natural discoveries along the way. Surely that part of his life deserves more than a mere two pages of coverage, especially when he had to walk to do the job. Perhaps the casual Thoreauvian will pluck this book off a shelf because the title sounds as though it might be a guidebook for applying Thoreau's philosophies to our lives today. Well, that gentle reader will be disappointed. By changing one word in the title, the author could have given us a better expectation of the content. If the subtitle instead read: "Thoreau and HIS search for self," then we would know that it's all about the famous naturalist's physical and introspective journeys, and not a model for our own. Smith sticks only to literary analysis. If he had gone that one step further -- both literally and figuratively -- and shown how Thoreau's experience can apply to our own search for self today, a person would have a real reason to pick up this book. For it is painfully obvious that Smith has most likely never seen the places Thoreau visited. While Thoreau could claim, "I have traveled much in Concord," the reader gets the impression that Smith can't say the same. He sticks to literary analysis and never puts himself into the picture. In a passage on page 106, Thoreau is quoted as having earlier traversed "a rocky hillside where the sweet-fern grows for a mile." The casual reader might be interested in knowing that sweet-fern still grows on the northern rocky shore of Walden Pond; and when you squeeze a leaf between your fingertips, a lovely spicy scent stays with you for the rest of your walk. But Smith probably doesn't know that. Instead he spends four pages of the final chapter mentioning articles and books written by those who actually HAVE attempted to walk in Thoreau's footsteps. Thus this book appears to be written by someone who has READ quite a bit but has not DONE. And yet Thoreau is quoted on page 182: "The forcible writer stands bodily behind his words with his experience. He does not make books out of books, but he has been *there* in person." Evidently Smith read and copied those words but did not heed their admonishment. The text itself saunters along. It isn't broken by subheadings for emphasis or for easy reference, and no index is included, so its academic usefulness is limited. This book is not designed in a way to be accessible to scholars, and it's not written with contemporary lifestyle application in mind. So the question on the reader's mind is: Why should we care? Or, Why am I reading this? Hmmm. Why, indeed. I should mention that I found Smith's list of sources moderately useful. Some interesting titles about walking or about Thoreau appear in the bibliography, and they are worthy of further investigation. So my investment in purchasing this volume was not a total loss. Here's the coup de grace: A lovely ethereal photo of the North Bridge graces the cover, providing yet another temptation for the casual reader to believe that held within are the secrets of how we can use Henry David Thoreau's writings in order to live our lives today. For of course the savvy Thoreauvian knows that while the North Bridge is indeed an historical symbol of Concord, Massachusetts, no bridge existed in that spot from 1793 to 1875. Thoreau (1817-1862) would not have and could not have walked its expanse. Ah, the irony.
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