Cambridge University Press The Cambridge Companion to Henry David Thoreau (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

The Cambridge Companion to Henry David Thoreau is intended as an accessible guide to reading and understanding the works of Thoreau. Presenting essays by a distinguished array of contributors, the Companion is a valuable resource for historical and contextual material, whether on early writings like A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, on the monumental Walden, or on his assorted journals and later books. It also serves in some ways as a biographical guide, offering new insights into his turbulent publishing career, and his brief but extraordinarily original life. In short, the Companion helps the reader come to Thoreau's writings, as he would say, 'deliberately and reservedly' by suggesting how Thoreau uses language, how his biography informs his writing, how personal and historical influences shaped his career, and how his writings function as literary works. Review "Taken together, the essays provide a comprehensive guide to how to read, understand, and appreciate Thoreau....Myerson should be commended for selecting and gathering the very best on Thoreau in a single slim volume." Choice"...this volume works splendidly well both for beginning students and for seasoned Thoreauvians, several of the most distinguished being among Myerson's contributors." Nineteenth-Century Literature Book Description This is an accessible guide to reading and understanding the works of Thoreau. From the Back Cover The Cambridge Companion to Henry David Thoreau is an accessible guide to reading and understanding the works of Thoreau. Presenting essays by a distinguished array of contributors, the Companion is a valuable resource for historical and contextual material, whether on early writings such as A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, on the monumental Walden, or on his Journal and later writings. It also serves as a biographical guide, offering insights into his publishing career and his brief but extraordinarily original life. In short, the Companion helps the reader to approach Thoreau's writings, as he would say, "deliberately and reservedly", by suggesting how Thoreau uses language, how his biography informs his writing, how personal and historical influences shaped his career, and how his writings function as literary works.