WISE: Thoreau and His Readers

"Some historical phenomena need large-scale analysis," writes literary critic Wai-Chee Dimock. In this course, we will take Dimock's invitation as we study the far-reaching resonances of a text that might seem parochial: Henry David Thoreau's Walden. Thoreau's account of his 'experiment in living' for two years at Walden Pond proved polarizing when he first published it in 1854. Even today Thoreau can be read as either dangerously self-indulgent or radically self-reliant. But while his political thought is often associated with modern libertarianism, it has also shaped an active, deeply egalitarian form of civic engagement from the nineteenth century on. Indeed, the themes that cut across Walden and that anchor Thoreau's speeches and essays on civil disobedience have made him a writer with a direct influence on such twentieth-century revolutionaries as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the same time, Thoreau has played a foundational role in the development of environmental thought and ethics. In this course, we will read Walden slowly, pairing Thoreau's work with the contributions of other writers and activists whose work either references or resonates with Thoreau's, from the mid-nineteenth century to today. Bringing a comparative lens to topics ranging from abolitionism to environmentalism, we will consider the historical contexts and trajectories of these movements and attempt to articulate our own sense of ethical and political responsibility in the twenty-first century. (Note: This Writing-Intensive Seminar in English (WISE) course fulfills WIM for English majors. Non-majors are welcome, space permitting. For enrollment permission contact vbeebe@stanford.edu.)