Emerson | Emerson

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...

Emerson | Emerson

At a glance:

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