Faulkner’s quip is often held to refer to the American South; a land where the sense of history and tradition run so deep that we are still solving the problems of the 1870s.
But it might also be said of Emerson. He was dismissive of the rote education of his day, which emphasized learning dead languages, along with the dates and biographies of notable persons. What he wanted instead was a living absorption of history.
Confident that every man has the capacity to be a Caesar within him, the reader of the Commentaries should feel immersed in the courage, temperance and leadership of the Roman general. Similarly, we might read the life of Antony to understand moral purity or Washington to learn the virtues of a modern Cincinnatus.
In the penultimate essay Emerson goes so far as to say that Aristotle, Charlemagne and the Buddha are not dead but live on by our continual participation in their spirit.
And, while our materialist age may be dismissive of Transcendentalism, even Einstein was moved by the fact that the laws of physics are true whether time runs forward or backward to utter,
“People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
Who of us can really answer the child’s question of where the past goes? Is Emerson actually irrational in holding on to the continual influence, the persistence of the living past on our present? Questions to ponder as one reads arguably the most elegant stylist of nineteenth century America.
I’ve only touched upon the many insights Emerson offers in these essays. My one regret is that I didn’t read them when I was younger. Highly recommended.
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Debuting in 1990, the Thrift Editions library of classic literature is a top choice for teachers, students, librarians, and recreational readers around the world. Dover’s longstanding mission of exceptional value has consistently offered excellence in classic fiction, nonfiction, plays, and poetry.
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From the Publisher
Essayist, poet, and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson propounded a transcendental idealism emphasizing self-reliance, self-culture, and individual expression.
This volume outline the great transcendentalist's moral idealism as well as hinting at the later scepticism that colored his thought.
- From Essays (1841)
- History
- Self-Reliance
- Friendship
- The Over-soul
- From Essays: Second Series (1844)
- The Poet
- Experience
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Jennifer
An absolute favourite read (but not a good quality print)
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