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/lit/ - Literature

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2291336 No.2291336 [Reply] [Original]

What do you guys think of Emerson and Thoreau?

I received compilations of both their works for Christmas, and now that I have finished reading them I am eager for some discussion.

>> No.2291337

They're interesting fellows. Emerson > Thoreau, I think we can all agree on that... I don't agree with them entirely but their concepts of individuality are interesting and they are super important to American intellectual history. Even if Thoreau was a bit of a poser.

I feel like Emerson, in some ways, is a positive/mystical precursor of Nietzsche, without the anger and the biting social critique and almost the realistic side of Nietzsche. He was certainly an influence on N.

>> No.2291350

>>2291337
>Even if Thoreau was a bit of a poser.
Could you please elaborate on this?

>> No.2291352

>>2291350

he didn't live far enough out in the woods to impress the neckbreads

>> No.2291359
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2291359

>>2291352
>implying he wasn't the king of the neckbeards

>> No.2291370

>>2291352

He didn't live in the woods at all. He lived on a clear-cut bit of land that belonged to Emerson.

Also, I like Emerson's view of writing (The Poet) more than his other philosophy (Self-Reliance and the like), but that's probably because of my politics.

>> No.2291448

Emerson/Whitman = American Nietzsche
Nietzsche = German Emerson
Proust = French Nietzsche

>> No.2291467

I am totally in love with Emerson.

>> No.2293314

Thoreau was the better writer, but he was also a tryhard boyscout hipster and the progenitor of the Occupy ethos (put in jail for one night and spent the rest of his life harping on about it). Nevertheless, he can string along a sentence like no one can.

>> No.2293356

Thoreau was very influential in terms of social movements. If one performed a Nietzschean genealogy of the idea of civil disobedience, one would inevitably end up in Thoreau's lap. Ghandi and MLK Jr. perfected in practise what Thoreau theorized and wrote.