The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics)
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ralph Waldo EmersonEditor: Brooks Atkinson
Introduction: Mary Oliver
Edition: Paperback
Published: 2000-09-12
ISBN: 0679783229
Number of pages: 880
Publisher: Modern Library
Book Reviews of The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics)
Book Review: Excellent essays, but poorly edited
Summary: 4 Stars
Emerson's essays are, of course, absolutely superb, and this Modern Library edition is handsomely bound, as are all of the books in this series. The editing, however, is lacking and leaves something to be desired. For example, the header at the top of the page in the Essays: First Series and Essays: Second Series merely states that fact, rather than the actual essay name, which makes it tedious to return to a particular essay--you must first go to the front of the book, locate the correct page number, and then find that, rather than just thumb through the book.
The essays themselves are introduced quite unceremoniously and in a rather understated manner, to say the least. "The American Scholar" is merely introduced with the two brief sentences, "This is the Phi Beta Kappa address that Emerson delivered at Harvard in 1837. It was received with great enthusiasm." The uninitiated reader would have absolutely no sense of the significance of this address. Only if you happen to peruse the brief commentaries all the way at the back of this volume will you stumble upon Oliver Wendell Holmes' famous assessment, "This grand Oration was our intellectual Declaration of Independence." Similarly, the Divinity School Address is introduced merely as, "This address was delivered before the senior class of the Harvard Divinity School on Sunday evening, July 15, 1838. Emerson had been invited to give it, not by the officers of the school, but by the senior class. What Emerson said was so objectionable to many clergymen that the officers of the school publicly disclaimed responsibility for it. Nearly thirty years passed before Emerson was invited again to speak at Harvard." Again, no context is provided to assist the uninitiated reader in appreciating the true significance of this address.
As a collection of Emerson's writings, however, it is indeed both a handy as well as a handsome volume of his "essential writings," and of course, I highly recommend Emerson's writings themselves. "Self-Reliance," "The Transcendentalist," "The American Scholar," the Divinity School Address (which is listed in the table of contents as merely "An Address"), and "Nature" are not to be missed, seminal essays in American literature, and indeed ought to be revisited often and with regularity. "Self-Reliance" and "The Transcendentalist," in particular, are perspectives sorely needed in our society, and it is rather sad that over the course of nearly 200 years, the spirit of the movement that Emerson engendered is nearly lost, if not altogether lost. "Character" is another fine essay which I highly recommend. A fine companion to these essays is the recently published Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Infinitude of the Private Man by Maurice York and Rick Spaulding.
Summary of The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics)
The definitive collection of Emerson's major speeches, essays, and poetry, The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson chronicles the life's work of a true "American Scholar."As one of the architects of the transcendentalist movement, Emerson embraced a philosophy that championed the individual, emphasized independent thought, and prized "the splendid labyrinth of one's own perceptions." More than any writer of his time, he forged a style distinct from his European predecessors and embodied and defined what it meant to be an American. Matthew Arnold called Emerson's essays "the most important work done in prose."
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