Emerson (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Evelyn Barish
- First Published: 1990
- Type of Work: Literary biography
- Time of Work: 1803-1836
- Setting: New England, Florida, Italy, France, and England
- Principal Characters: Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Emerson, Ruth Haskins Emerson, Mary Moody Emerson, William Emerson, Ellen Louisa Tucker, Samuel Ripley
- Genres: Nonfiction, History
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, History, Philosophy or philosophers, Magic or magicians, Literature, Poverty or poor people, Christianity, Depression, mental, Spiritualism, Orphans or orphanages, Tuberculosis
- Locales: France, England, Florida, Italy, New England
Near the beginning of The Conduct of Life (1860), Ralph Waldo Emerson poses the question, “How shall I live?” This problem underlies all of his works, and its focus on the practical rather than the abstract made Emerson popular in his own day and continues to win for him new readers and admirers. Yet before he could tell others how to live, he had to attempt to resolve that matter for himself. Evelyn Barish’s study of Emerson’s early life demonstrates that the ringingly optimistic answers constituting such essays as The American Scholar (1837) and...
[The entire page is 1720 words long]
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