An Evening of Henry David Thoreau: Kristen Case and Lewis Hyde

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An immersive, beautifully illustrated revelation of Henry David Thoreau's final project--a monthly almanac of natural phenomena.

In the last years of his life, Henry David Thoreau created something new. Part blueprint for a major new work, part scientific chart, and part re-envisioning of the way we experience the passage of time, Thoreau's Kalendar was more a tool than a text. Comprised of six multipage charts of "general phenomena," the Kalendar was an instrument for recording not just natural and weather-related phenomena, but also the hidden relations among them--between the skies of one June and the skies of past and future Junes--relations we often feel but can't quite hold, rooted as we typically are in our own brief moment of linear time.

Combining reproductions of Thoreau's hand-drawn charts with transcriptions of the Kalendar's text and essays by acclaimed poet and scholar Kristen Case, this gorgeously crafted volume illuminates the final project of one of America's most treasured writers and naturalists and offers a timeless, transformative vision of how to live harmoniously with the living world around us.

Kristen Case is a poet and scholar. She is the author of American Pragmatism and Poetic Practice: Crosscurrents from Emerson to Susan Howe and three books of poetry, most recently, Daphne. She has co-edited several essay collections on American writers, most recently the Oxford Handbook of Henry David Thoreau. She lives in Maine.

A definitive collection of Henry David Thoreau's major essays, annotated and introduced by Lewis Hyde.

Diverging from the long-standing custom of separating Thoreau's politics from his interest in nature, renowned author Lewis Hyde brings together essays that highlight the ways in which these two strands of thought were intertwined. Here, natural history begins not with fish and birds, but with a dismissal of the political world, and condemnation of slavery concludes with a meditation on the water lilies blooming on the Concord River.

This definitive edition includes Thoreau's most famous essays, "Civil Disobedience" and "Walking," along with lesser-known masterpieces such as "Wild Apples," "The Last Days of John Brown," and an account of Thoreau's 1846 journey into the Maine wilderness to climb Mount Katahdin--an essay that ends on a unique note of sublimity and terror in the face of raw nature. While Thoreau's ideal reader was expected to be politically engaged in current affairs and well versed in Greek, Latin, poetry, and travel narrative, Hyde's inviting annotations clarify many of Thoreau's references and recreate the contemporary context of the day, when the nation's westward expansion was bringing to a head the racial tensions that would result in the Civil War.

Hyde deems Thoreau's writing prophetic because "the prophet speaks of things that will be true in the future because they are true in all time." Thoreau's revelatory writing coupled with the luminous insights from Hyde--"one of our country's greatest public thinkers" (Lawrence Weschler)--make The Essays of Henry David Thoreau essential reading at a moment in our nation's history when his subversiveness, foresight, and lyricism are badly needed.

Lewis Hyde is a poet, essayist, translator, and cultural critic. A MacArthur Fellow and renowned author, his previous books include The Gift, Trickster Makes This World, and A Primer for Forgetting. Hyde is a trustee of MacDowell and a founding director of Creative Capital. He was previously the director of undergraduate creative writing at Harvard University and taught writing and American literature for many years at Kenyon College. Now retired, he and his wife, the writer Patricia Vigderman, live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Brookline Booksmith, thriving in the heart of Coolidge Corner in Brookline, Massachusetts, since 1961, is one of New England’s premier independent bookstores. We offer a vast selection of books, ranging from current bestsellers to the most eclectic titles. We are also known for our beautiful and inspired gifts. Customers buy and sell gently used books in our treasured Used Book Cellar and enjoy our bountiful bargain book selection. We host award-winning events series (including our groundbreaking Transnational Literature Series), offering more than 300 author talks, community conversations, and book clubs annually. Find more at brooklinebooksmith.com!

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