The Cambridge Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson is
intended to provide a critical introduction to Emerson's work. The
tradition of American literature and philosophy as we know it at the end
of the twentieth century was largely shaped by Emerson's example and
practice. This volume offers students, scholars, and the general reader
a collection of fresh interpretations of Emerson's writing, milieu,
influence, and cultural significance. All essays are newly commissioned
for this volume, written at an accessible yet challenging level, and
augmented by a comprehensive chronology and bibliography.
Contents
List of Contributors
List of Abbreviations
Preface
Chronology of Emerson's Life
Introduction: Representing America -
the Emerson Legacy
1
1
Transcendentalism and Its Times
13
2
Ralph Waldo Emerson in His Family
30
3
The Radical Emerson?
49
4
Emerson as Lecturer: Man Thinking,
Man Saying
76
5
Emerson and Nature
97
6
Essays: First Series (1841)
106
7
Transcendental Friendship: Emerson,
Fuller, and Thoreau
121
8
Tears for Emerson: Essays, Second
Series
140
9
"The Remembering Wine":
Emerson's Influence on Whitman and Dickinson
The
Cambridge Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson