Walden (MCI) (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations) [Library Binding]

Harold Bloom (Author), Henry David Thoreau (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1987 | Series: Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations

Walden, the most famous work of Henry David Thoreau, eloquently expresses his philosophy of individualism. The essays comprising Walden grow out of the author's quest to simplify his life, relying on himself and the bounty of nature for survival.

The title, Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern Critical Interpretations series, presents the most important 20th-century criticism on Henry David Thoreau’s Walden through extracts of critical essays by well-known literary critics. This collection of criticism also features a short biography on Henry David Thoreau, a chronology of the author’s life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 150 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea House Publications (December 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555460127
• ISBN-13: 978-1555460129
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,608,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This timeless spiritual classic has a message for today., July 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Henry David Thoreau's Walden (Barron's Book Notes) (Paperback)

"Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star."

With these words, Henry Thoreau ended his world-famous masterpiece, "Walden", neatly summarizing the essence of both his book and his life: that we are all on a journey of awakening to the divine fullness of Life. Like the writings of great saints and mystics through time, "Walden" is less one man's philosophical musings than it is the ecstatic outpouring of a soul that has "dipped into the well of eternal Truths" and held up the dipper for the rest of us to drink from.

But the real wonder of "Walden" is that it speaks even more to the problems of our nation today than it did 150 years ago -- that we are living "lives of quiet desperation", our souls drowning in a sea of materialism and media messages, our natural environment poisoned and obliterated before our slightly-open eyes. We are out of touch with the rhythms of nature and with our own beingness.

Yet Thoreau does not merely describe the problems of our time, he gives specific solutions -- solutions that are increasingly respoken if not practiced: Follow a different drummer. Follow not your neighbor nor your parents nor anyone else, but follow the genius within yourself. Sit still and listen to the divine music within. Simplify.

There's a reason Thoreau's "Walden" has never been out of print since the 1860's, and possibly never will: it's a message we need to hear, more than ever.