Trembling on the Verge: Thoreau’s journals

Thoreau’s greatest work was not Walden but his two-million-word journal, started in 1837 and ending months before his death in 1862. On his long daily walks he would take extensive notes on his observations. Later, when transferring these notes to his journal, he added thoughts, questions, and references from his reading—all revealing his love of the natural world. In his journal, poetry and science engage in benevolent conflict, which he characterized in this comment from 1852: “Every poet has trembled on the verge of science.” More accurately, although not acknowledged by Thoreau in writing, he was the scientist trembling on the verge of poetry. Nature “is a plain writer, uses few gestures, verbs, adverbs, uses no expletives,” he wrote. We will examine passages from Thoreau’s journal in which he follows Nature’s plain-written example, offering in this monumental and oft-overlooked body of literary work unexpected rewards.

Participants will need to have the Journal, selected and edited by Damion Searls and published by The New York Review of Books. Copies will be available for purchase in class. This edition is also available from Amazon in paperback and on Kindle.

Instructor: Kathleen Housley

4 classes, Tuesdays, October 1, 8, 15, 22, 6:30–-8:30 pm