Walden: A Fully Annotated Edition (original 1854; edição 2004)

Ok, we all know what we think of his Experiment. Going in, we know it's a neat idea but not realistic.

But what else is in here? Well, I'm not too thrilled about all the trees he cut down to make his cabin. He did salvage boards from a shanty, though, so that mitigates.

And there's lots of preaching philosophy - this from a man who (disingenuously?) complains that there are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers."

And there's lots of stuff I don't understand. Metaphor? Allusion? Unedited journaling? "I long ago lost a hound, a bay horse, and a turtle dove, and am still on their trail." Onwards to finish a short paragraph about seeking them, and then, subject dropped. Huh? Now, this is very near the beginning of the book - do most readers just skim until they get to the actual living in the woods bit?

I'm currently reading the edition from digireads, but I'm going to see if my library has an annotated or scholarly edition. If I'm going to actually go to the trouble of reading the book I want to understand it.

Meanwhile, I'm missing [b:Henry Climbs a Mountain|312658|Henry Climbs a Mountain|D.B. Johnson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348958174s/312658.jpg|303561] and the others by [a:D.B. Johnson|3280243|D.B. Johnson|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1374025549p2/3280243.jpg].

..............

Switched to this edition, annotated by [a:Jeffrey S Cramer|4687770|Jeffrey S Cramer|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-ccc56e79bcc2db9e6cdcd450a4940d46.png].
Apparently it's the most thorough, something about him compiling (?) other sets of annotations in honor of the sesquicentennial. Seems, scanning the preface, to be a bit idolatrous... we'll see.

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Ok done with what I can put up with - which is to say, almost half. The metaphor about the horse, hound, and dove is not understood by the annotators, either. Is sumach hallucogenic?

In "Reading" Thoreau advises us to read the Greek philosphers in the original Greek, and that just about anything else is a waste of our time, which we'd be better off spending communing with Nature. I think I like that advice, assuming I can include him in the latter category of reading material. After all, he says elsewhere that having oneself as slave-master is the worst kind of slavery, so I mustn't feel bound to read "Walden" on my own say-so!

I do have several book-dart marked passages but I've decided to quote only two. "Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys..." is how he prefaces his contemptuous remarks re' the railroad. Hmm. There's no chance of justifying videogames to him, is there?

"I have always been regretting that I am not as wise as the day I was born." Well, never mind the ambiguous syntax (structured, he says the day is wise, but I imagine he means to say "as wise [as I was on] the day [that] I was born). I would gather he is making a distinction between wisdom and knowledge. But this is purely disingenuous. He displays his booksmarts all over the place, dropping unattributed idioms, phrases, even story-lines to the point that the annotations, adding those attributions, are significantly longer than the text. If the man were typing this and putting quote keys around each piece of writing that was stolen, his quote key would get more wear than the *e* key!

I think the clinching reason I don't want to bother finishing this is that Cramer points out that it is a fictionalized account of Thoreau's experiment. Thoreau did things like describe a 'hill' that was less than a 20 ft rise, and change dates, and pretend to be independent while getting his laundry done by kinfolk back home.

I'll stick with the iconographic vision, the fable. *That* idea is what feeds my spirit.



"

There are several words that come to mind when I think of Thoreau and his work, Walden. Right up front I have to say Walden is important, even necessary. Every student needs to read it at least once in his or her academic career, whether it be high school, college or as a postgraduate. As I said it's important. But, there are other words that bubble to the surface as I read: didactic, preachy, bloviate. If Thoreau had kept his commentary restricted to his personal efforts to live a simple life and not generalized all of mankind it would have been a less frustrating read. At least for me. Case in point, Walden borrows an axe from a neighbor to build his house. He feels the need to point out "The owner of the axe, as he released his hold on it, said that it was the apple of his eye; but I returned it sharper than I received it" (p 32). His implication is, despite what the man said Thoreau cared for the instrument better than the owner. Couldn't he just been grateful for borrowing the damned axe? As a former islander who sustained on very little I know the importance of living simply. I just wish the reminder didn't come as such a lecture. ( )

One of the best. Along with this, one might try Cramer's Annotated Walden as well. ( )

I feel wholly inadequate to review this wonderfully poetic and humorous account of Thoreau's two year experiment living in a shack that he build in the woods next to Walden Pond.

I just finished the Unabridged Audible version of this book, fell in love and have this fully annotated copy on the way.

A very worthwhile classic, and for me a new favorite. ( )

An important book for me - great read in the spring. ( )