Journal, Volume 6 - Hardcover

Thoreau, Henry David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691065373 ISBN 13: 9780691065373

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2000

Synopsis

From 1837 to 1861, Thoreau kept a Journal that began as a conventional record of ideas, grew into a writer's notebook, and eventually became the principal imaginative work of his career. The source of much of his published writing, the Journal is also a record of both his interior life and his monumental studies of the natural history of his native Concord, Massachusetts. In contrast to earlier editions, the Princeton Edition reproduces the Journal in its original and complete form, in a reading text that is free of editorial interpolations but keyed to a comprehensive scholarly apparatus.

Journal 6 comprises a single manuscript notebook of nearly five hundred pages that Thoreau filled between March 9 and August 18, 1853. During this period, Thoreau divided his energies among his increasingly professional studies as a naturalist in Concord, the revision of his Walden manuscript, and surveying, which provided him a living and established him more securely as a contributing member of the Concord community. Thoreau's writing and his understanding of natural history were enriched by surveying, which gave him the opportunity to regularly observe seasonal occurrences and other natural events in and around Concord. Thoreau recorded these observations in his Journal, making both literary and scientific use of them. Substantial passages from Journal 6 were incorporated into the sixth draft of Walden, and its observations formed the basis for later compilations of field ecology. They are made available here, along with Journal entries, completely unrevised. This volume will delight all custodians of literary and natural history and be an essential addition to the libraries of all Thoreau devotees.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In the publication of THE WRITINGS OF HENRY D. THOREAU, Princeton University Press joins university presses throughout the United States in making the works of major American writers available in comprehensive scholarly editions. This project was inaugurated by the Modern Language Association of America and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Although Thoreau has earned a national and international reputation as a naturalist, social critic and philosopher of human rights, and literary artist of the first rank, no scholarly edition of his complete writings has previously been undertaken. In addition to newly edited texts of his major published works, the edition will include his poetry, translations, correspondence, college essays, and unfinished late natural history projects, "Wild Fruits" and "The Dispersion of Seeds". Thoreau's Journal -- the private record of his experiences, the source of his many writings, and a unique literary document in itself-will be printed for the first time in its original, unrevised form, including many previously unpublished passages and notebooks.

About the Author:

William Rossi is Associate Professor of English at the University of Oregon. Heather Kirk Thomas is Associate Professor of English at Loyola College, Baltimore. Robert Sattelmeyer is General Editor for the Journal. Elizabeth Hall Witherell is Editor-in-Chief of the Thoreau Edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0691065373
• ISBN 13: 9780691065373
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 480
• Editor: Rossi William, Thomas Heather Kirk