Download the fantastic book titled Walden s Shore written by Robert M. Thorson, available in its entirety in both PDF and EPUB formats for online reading. This page includes a concise summary, a preview of the book cover, and detailed information about "Walden s Shore", which was released on 06 January 2014. We suggest perusing the summary before initiating your download. This book is a top selection for enthusiasts of the Literary Criticism genre.
Summary of Walden s Shore by Robert M. Thorson PDF
"Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward," Thoreau invites his readers in Walden, "till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place, which we can call reality." Walden's Shore explores Thoreau's understanding of that hard reality, not as metaphor but as physical science. Robert M. Thorson is interested in Thoreau the rock and mineral collector, interpreter of landscapes, and field scientist whose compass and measuring stick were as important to him as his plant press. At Walden's climax, Thoreau asks us to imagine a "living earth" upon which all animal and plant life is parasitic. This book examines Thoreau's understanding of the geodynamics of that living earth, and how his understanding informed the writing of Walden. The story unfolds against the ferment of natural science in the nineteenth century, as Natural Theology gave way to modern secular science. That era saw one of the great blunders in the history of American science--the rejection of glacial theory. Thorson demonstrates just how close Thoreau came to discovering a "theory of everything" that could have explained most of the landscape he saw from the doorway of his cabin at Walden. At pivotal moments in his career, Thoreau encountered the work of the geologist Charles Lyell and that of his protégé Charles Darwin. Thorson concludes that the inevitable path of Thoreau's thought was descendental, not transcendental, as he worked his way downward through the complexity of life to its inorganic origin, the living rock.
Detail About Walden s Shore PDF
- Author : Robert M. Thorson
- Publisher : Harvard University Press
- Genre : Literary Criticism
- Total Pages : 409 pages
- ISBN : 0674728416
- Release Date : 06 January 2014
- PDF File Size : 16,5 Mb
- Language : English
- Rating : 4/5 from 21 reviews
Clicking on the GET BOOK button will initiate the downloading process of Walden s Shore by Robert M. Thorson. This book is available in ePub and PDF format with a single click unlimited downloads.