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Henry David Thoreau: Journals

June 20 - August 1 (no meeting July 4) Tuesdays, 6:00-8:00 p.m. (six sessions)
First meeting is on Zoom; remaining meetings are in person at Literary Arts

$240

Thoreau’s Journal is one of the greatest piece of American nature-writing and one of the greatest intellectual achievements in world literature. As Virginia Woolf said, in the Journal “we have a chance of getting to know Thoreau as few people are known.”

Thoreau considered his journals his central literary endeavor. They are, among other things, the raw material out of which he crafted his other books. But they are also a very different enterprise from his books. They form a daily attempt to collect his thinking about life, based on decades of observation. Full of strange paradoxes and hilarious stories, they record his liveliest and most intimate observations of humanity and of nature, his deepest reflections, his daily activities and travels, and his interactions with people and with the more-than-human world.

Most people know Thoreau through Walden. But in the Journal, his masterwork, we will meet Thoreau in a fuller and more intimate form and as a very great thinker about human life and the natural world. Again, as Woolf put it, “Thoreau could lift a fish out of the stream with his hands; he could charm a wild squirrel to nestle in his coat; he could sit so still that the animals went on with their play around him.” We will find the humorous, sociable, witty Thoreau, who found intelligence in all life. He recounts everything from his walks, river journeys, and passion for ice-skating to his fight against slavery. The Journal allows readers to see beyond the conventional misreading of Thoreau as misanthropic and isolated. Here we will find the man who knew his neighbors intimately and whom they knew well, who was interested in all of the society around him. This Thoreau is now the center of attention on the man and his work.

We will also think about what kind of project or genre these texts are and in what ways we can read and think about them. We will not be reading the complete journals—the two million words comprising the 47 manuscript volumes that Thoreau wrote over 24 years—but we will read what I believe is the best and most representative edition, edited by the writer and translator Damion Searles.

Access Program
We want our classes to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers class registrations at a reduced rate. The access program for writing classes covers 60% of the class tuition. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.

Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you have questions.

Liaison position
Every in-person class and seminar at Literary Arts has one liaison position. Liaisons perform specific duties for each class meeting. If you are a liaison for a class or seminar, the full amount of your tuition is covered by Literary Arts.

Apply here for the liaison position.

Text:
The Journal of Henry David Thoreau (New York Review of Books)

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Bennett Gilbert

Bennett Gilbert teaches history and philosophy at Portland State University. He is the author of A Personalist Philosophy of History.
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