Now comes good sailing : writers reflect on Henry David Thoreau / edited by Andrew Blauner.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Blauner, Andrew, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862--Influence.

Thoreau, Henry David.

Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862--Appreciation.

Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862.

Art appreciation.

Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.).

Genre:

Essays.

Physical Description:

xv, 348 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2021]

Summary:

"An anthology of original reflections on Henry David Thoreau's life and work"-- Provided by publisher.

"From twenty-seven of today's leading writers, an anthology of original pieces on the author of WaldenFeatures essays by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Kristen Case, George Howe Colt, Gerald Early, Paul Elie, Will Eno, Adam Gopnik, Lauren Groff, Celeste Headlee, Pico Iyer, Alan Lightman, James Marcus, Megan Marshall, Michelle Nijhuis, Zoë Pollak, Jordan Salama, Tatiana Schlossberg, A. O. Scott, Mona Simpson, Stacey Vanek Smith, Wen Stephenson, Robert Sullivan, Amor Towles, Sherry Turkle, Geoff Wisner, Rafia Zakaria, and a cartoon by Sandra Boynton. The world is never done catching up with Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), the author of Walden, "Civil Disobedience," and other classics. A prophet of environmentalism and vegetarianism, an abolitionist, and a critic of materialism and technology, Thoreau even seems to have anticipated a world of social distancing in his famous experiment at Walden Pond. In Now Comes Good Sailing, twenty-seven of today's leading writers offer wide-ranging original pieces exploring how Thoreau has influenced and inspired them-and why he matters more than ever in an age of climate, racial, and technological reckoning.Here, Lauren Groff retreats from the COVID-19 pandemic to a rural house and writing hut, where, unable to write, she rereads Walden; Pico Iyer describes how Thoreau provided him with an unlikely guidebook to Japan; Gerald Early examines Walden and the Black quest for nature; Rafia Zakaria reflects on solitude, from Thoreau's Concord to her native Pakistan; Mona Simpson follows in Thoreau's footsteps at Maine's Mount Katahdin; Jennifer Finney Boylan reads Thoreau in relation to her experience of coming out as a trans woman; Adam Gopnik traces Thoreau's influence on the New Yorker editor E. B. White and his book Charlotte's Web; and there's much more.The result is a lively and compelling collection that richly demonstrates the countless ways Thoreau continues to move, challenge, and provoke readers today"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: EXCURSIONS NEAR AND FAR

Wild Apples / Lauren Groff

My Guidebook to Japan / Pico Iyer

Walden and the Black Quest for Nature, or My Summer Vacation with Big Sis / Gerald Early

Twenty-Four Hours on Pea Island / Jordan Salama

The Fragility of Solitude / Rafia Zakaria

My Failure / Mona Simpson

Without / Megan Marshall

DELIBERATE LIVING

To a Slower Life / Alan Lightman

Walden as an Art / Robert Sullivan

The Year of Not Living Thickly / Sherry Turkle

If I Had Loved Her Less / Jennifer Finney Boylan

Following Thoreau / Kristen Case

DIRECTIONS OF HIS DREAMS

Thoreau on Ice / George Howe Colt

"The Record of My Love": Thoreau and the Art of Science / Michelle Nijhuis

The Apples of His Eye / A. O. Scott

You Bring the Weather with You / Zoe Pollak

Thoreau in Love / James Marcus

PRACTICALITIES

As for Clothing / Amor Towles

On Pencils and Purpose / Celeste Headlee

The House That Thoreau Built / Paul Elie

Is It Worth the While? / Geoff Wisner

A Few Elements of American Style / Adam Gopnik

AT WALDEN

Concord Is a Kind of Word / Will Eno

Dolittle's Rebellion / Stacey Vanek Smith

Ice, for the Time Being / Tatiana Schlossberg

Walden at Midnight: Three Walks with Thoreau / Wen Stephenson

Simplify, Simplify / Sandra Boynton.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Other Format:

Online version: Blauner, Andrew, Now comes good sailing.

ISBN:

9780691215228

0691215227

OCLC:

1240576032