tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post4547799200500541331..comments2023-11-23T09:51:07.448-05:00Comments on A Literary Odyssey: Book 121: Walden by Henry David Thoreau.Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18420476898132383974noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post-47491812243866950622012-01-19T16:46:01.268-05:002012-01-19T16:46:01.268-05:00All the Transcendentalists (and writers of almost ...All the Transcendentalists (and writers of almost every school/type at the time) tend to come across as arrogant, self-righteous, or demanding. This is because almost all published work, pre-"pop fiction" tended to be not just fiction, but political or philosophical statements. Writers were positing ideas and attempting to coax readers into thinking the way they did. <br /><br />It wasn't just the essayists, either. Dickens, Tolstoy, and Thackeray, among other novelists, were just as "guilty" of this. It was a different literary world (not that this doesn't happen today - it certainly does, but most readers these days read genre fiction for enjoyment, rather than statement pieces). <br /><br />Great work, Allie!Roof Beam Readerhttp://roofbeamreader.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post-29454433243278909352011-12-22T13:07:21.286-05:002011-12-22T13:07:21.286-05:00Walden figured prominently in another book I recen...Walden figured prominently in another book I recently read. Maybe I should pick it up sometime.carolhttp://carolsnotebook.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post-41556259208076644062011-12-21T13:08:24.983-05:002011-12-21T13:08:24.983-05:00Oh! I love how you compare what you're doing h...Oh! I love how you compare what you're doing here on your blog (personal experimentation) with Thoreau's experiment!! Ah, it makes me want to call my blog Walden's Pond...<br /><br />(Transgressing while I sigh with pleasure.)<br /><br />Anyway, I absolutely LOVE this book. I still have 50 pages to read because I'm stalling. I can't bear the idea I'll be finished with the book, when I finish. I don't find Thoreau at all arrogant. To me he's decisive and passionate and deep and concerned about the world -- and angry at the waste and cruelness he sees in the world. To me he's writing as one who knows what he thinks and doesn't mind saying so.<br /><br />I'll be returning again and again to this book. (I'll say more about my perspective on the book in my post later in the week!) :)<br /><br />I love the final two paragraphs in this post. Yes, yes! This is what I love about your blog. I know it's what you're doing, and why, and I so respect it.*ೃ༄ Jillianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14139487177036647728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post-10395308468679597582011-12-19T16:48:17.124-05:002011-12-19T16:48:17.124-05:00I HATED the first chapter of Walden (was it called...I HATED the first chapter of Walden (was it called "Economy"?) and because of it, it took me 3 tries to get through the book, but I really liked the rest of it once I got past that first long chapter. I had to read it for a college class and since I'd failed twice before, I tried a different tactic the third time. I bought a teeny tiny edition (I think from Shambala Editions) that was about 2 inches by an inch and a half. Not only could I really carry it everywhere, but I felt like I was making a lot of progress quickly, which was the opposite experience I had trying to read it from the Norton Anthology of American Literature.Carin Siegfriedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07278383926500248048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post-19325568396924631192011-12-19T02:46:28.003-05:002011-12-19T02:46:28.003-05:00I totally know what you mean about Thoreau's a...I totally know what you mean about Thoreau's arrogance turning you off..."Civil Disobedience" made me crazy, and WALDEN mostly did too, although I liked bits of it. Small bits. :)Bahnreehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04715301741888013895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post-4012633454515024572011-12-18T21:07:45.041-05:002011-12-18T21:07:45.041-05:00It sounds like an interesting book. Reminds me a l...It sounds like an interesting book. Reminds me a little of La Resistencia (The Resistance) by Ernesto Sábato (wonderful book I HIGHLY recommend). I love the ideas you wrote about- I might have to give this book a chance.Carohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12456284399025708010noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post-28772539753879181572011-12-16T14:06:23.290-05:002011-12-16T14:06:23.290-05:00I like the appreciation of ideas even as the man a...I like the appreciation of ideas even as the man annoys. I really should read this one day.Trishahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13917705393662132891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post-61593424348108851632011-12-16T13:14:24.984-05:002011-12-16T13:14:24.984-05:00I was looking forward to reading this one when I w...I was looking forward to reading this one when I was an undergrad, but when I did, I was FREAKIN' ANGRY. I also found him arrogant, but I also thought he was a bit of a sham. He lived close enough to town to walk up for a paper, and the part where he wanted to kill and eat a badger or something that ran across his path just threw me over the edge.<br /><br />In short, I think I like the idea of Walden much better than the actual book. Sadly. :(Andihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05220718933942181809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post-4256418981674594162011-12-16T12:30:26.378-05:002011-12-16T12:30:26.378-05:00I have a weird relationship to this book. I obsess...I have a weird relationship to this book. I obsessed over it when I read it in 2009, but for some reason when I think back on it and think I didn't like it. Not sure what's going on there. I think I realized afterward how arrogant he was and I was put off by it. I realized that I, as a woman who derives a lot of fulfilment from personal relationships, and who wants to have a family and children, could NEVER live the kind of life Thoreau thinks everyone should live. And that kind of bothered me. <br /><br />Not to mention the fact that Thoreau totally still depended on society when he claimed he didn't.IngridLolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16079137600900264656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post-3075218697798229882011-12-16T09:47:06.112-05:002011-12-16T09:47:06.112-05:00We seem to have had similar impressions of this, b...We seem to have had similar impressions of this, but his ARROGANCE made me overall dislike the book. I too really enjoy the reading chapter. I ran in to it a year ago in a volume of essays I have and liked it then too. And I do like the ideas of living life deliberately. Overall, though, I really disliked this book -- and Thoreau himself.Rebecca Reidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06062252252301802298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6543330341390707771.post-19439258886109914282011-12-15T21:10:18.476-05:002011-12-15T21:10:18.476-05:00I'm only about one-third of the way through th...I'm only about one-third of the way through this, but I LOVED "Reading." I copied so many quotes down, I began to wonder if I was just copying out the entire chapter! (And he very nearly had me convinced I should learn some Greek before I came to my senses, haha!)<br /><br />One thing I'm really struggling with in <em>Walden</em> is whether Thoreau actually means for EVERYONE to follow his path or whether he's directing his words to a more narrow group of people. Reading over Nicki's <a href="http://everybookandcranny.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/thoughts-on-walden/" rel="nofollow">post</a> (Every Book and Cranny), I'm leaning towards to latter, but he definitely comes across as "do as I say" or a "holier than thou" sometimes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com