American Literature 1820-1865. American Renaissance and Civil War. Emerson, Thoreau and transcendentalism.

American transcendentalism was an important movement in philosophy and literature that flourished during the early to middle years of the nineteenth century (about 1836-1860). Key statements of its doctrine include Emerson's essays, especially “Nature”, “The Transcendentalist”, "Self-Reliance," and Thoreau's “Walden”. For the transcendentalists, the soul of each individual is identical with the soul of the world and contains what the world contains.

Transcendentalism proposes that the essential nature of human beings is good and that, left in a state of nature, human beings would seek the good. Society is to blame for the corruption that mankind endures. This view opposes the neoclassical vision that society alone is responsible for keeping human beings from giving in to their own brutish natures. Transcendentalism also takes the Romantic view of man's steady degeneration from childhood to adulthood as he is corrupted by culture: "A man is a god in ruins."

“Self-Reliance” is Ralf Waldo Emerson’s strongest statement of his philosophy of individualism. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's repeating themes, the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his or her own instincts and ideas. Emerson stressed the importance of being and believing in one’s self and discouraged the copying of another’s image.

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), was an American author, naturalist, pacifist, philosopher, and transcendentalist. Thoreau believed nature to be an expression of God and a symbolic reflection of the transcendent spiritual world that works beyond the physical realm.

“Walden” (first published as “Walden; or, Life in the Woods”) is an American book written by Henry David Thoreau. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and manual for self reliance. It details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau did not intend to live as a hermit, for he received visitors regularly, and returned their visits. Rather, he hoped to isolate himself from society to gain a more objective understanding of it. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau's other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period. As Thoreau made clear in his book, his cabin was not in wilderness but at the edge of town, about two miles (3 km) from his family home.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16