Thoreau's democratic withdrawal : alienation, participation, and modernity / Shannon L. Mariotti.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mariotti, Shannon L. (Shannon Lee)

Series:

Studies in American thought and culture.

Studies in American thought and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862--Political and social views.

Thoreau, Henry David.

Solitude--Political aspects.

Solitude.

Physical Description:

xviii, 222 p.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Madison, WI : University of Wisconsin Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Best known for his two-year sojourn at Walden Pond in Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau is often considered a recluse who emerged from solitude only occasionally to take a stand on the issues of his day. In Thoreau's Democratic Withdrawal, Shannon L. Mariotti explores Thoreau's nature writings to offer a new way of understanding the unique politics of the so-called hermit of Walden Pond. Drawing imaginatively from the twentieth-century German social theorist Theodor W. Adorno, she shows how withdrawal from the public sphere can paradoxically be a valuable part of democratic politics.

Contents:

Damaged life, the microscopic gaze and Adorno's practice of negative dialectics

Alienated existence, focal distancing and Emerson's transcendental idealism

Man as machine : Thoreau and modern alienation

Huckleberrying toward democracy : Thoreau's practices of withdrawal

Traveling away from home : Thoreau's spaces of withdrawal

Alienation and the anti-foundationalist foundation of the self.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780299233938

0299233936

OCLC:

550642814

Publisher Number:

2027/heb08792 hdl