Overview

Does Thoreau belong to the past or to the future? Instead of canonizing him as a celebrant of “pure” nature apart from the corruption of civilization, the essays in Thoreauvian Modernities reveal edgier facets of his work—how Thoreau is able to unsettle as well as inspire and how he is able to focus on both the timeless and the timely. Contributors from the United States and Europe explore Thoreau’s modernity and give a much-needed reassessment of his work in a global context. The first of three sections, “Thoreau and (Non)Modernity,” views Thoreau as a social thinker who set himself against the “modern” currents of his day even while contributing to the emergence of a new era. By questioning the place of humans in the social, economic, natural, and metaphysical order, he ushered in a rethinking of humanity’s role in the natural world that nurtured the environmental movement. The second section, “Thoreau and Philosophy,” examines Thoreau’s writings in light of the philosophy of his time as well as current philosophical debates. Section three, “Thoreau, Language, and the Wild,” centers on his relationship to wild nature in its philosophical, scientific, linguistic, and literary dimensions. Together, these sixteen essays reveal Thoreau’s relevance to a number of fields, including science, philosophy, aesthetics, environmental ethics, political science, and animal studies. Thoreauvian Modernities posits that it is the germinating power of Thoreau’s thought—the challenge it poses to our own thinking and its capacity to address pressing issues in a new way—that defines his enduring relevance and his modernity. Contributors: Kristen Case, Randall Conrad, David Dowling, Michel Granger, Michel Imbert, Michael Jonik, Christian Maul, Bruno Monfort, Henrik Otterberg, Tom Pughe, David M. Robinson, William Rossi, Dieter Schulz, François Specq, Joseph Urbas, Laura Dassow Walls.

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Thoreauvian Modernities is a fitting tribute to the American philosopher who was, in so many ways, ahead of his time. As an environmentalist, social progressive, postmodern literary stylist, theorist of embodied knowledge, and opponent of the fact-value distinction, Henry David Thoreau was a thinker whose audience had not yet arrived. Yet his voice is also untimely because it is deeply suspicious of novelty and fashion, inspired by ancient wisdom traditions, and decidedly ambivalent about modern technology and culture. This interdisciplinary collection of essays analyzes Thoreau's contested legacy, exploring various aspects of his incredibly rich writings and bringing to light many valuable insights. It will enable readers to understand better the intricacies of Thoreau's work and the ways in which it refuses to conform to any of our standard assumptions about intellectual history. --Rick Anthony Furtak, coeditor of Thoreau's Importance for Philosophy

Given the worldwide impact of Thoreau's Walden and 'Civil Disobedience, ' it's hard to believe that there has never been a bona fide gathering of international perspectives on his work and significance. Thoreauvian Modernities handsomely supplies this need, almost on the eve of the bicentennial of his birth. --Lawrence Buell, Harvard University

Author Information

François Specq (Editor) FRANÇOIS SPECQ is a professor of American literature and culture at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon-Université de Lyon/CNRS. Laura Dassow Walls (Editor) LAURA DASSOW WALLS is William P. and Hazel B. White Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame. Michel Granger (Editor) MICHEL GRANGER is a professor of American literature and culture at the Université de Lyon/CNRS.

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