Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume XV: 1860-1866

by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Linda Allardt, David W. Hill, Ruth H. Bennett

Overview

The Civil War is a pervasive presence in the journals in this volume. “The war searches character,” Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote. Both his reading and his writing reflected his concern for the endurance of the nation, whose strength lay in the moral strength of the people. He read military biographies and memoirs, while turning again to Persian, Chinese, and Indian literature. The deaths of Clough, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and his aunt Mary Moody Emerson prompted him to reread their letters and journals, remembering and reappraising.

These were stirring, poignant years for Emerson. The times were hard, his lecturing was curtailed, and a new book seemed out of the question. He felt the losses, fears, and frustrations that come to those who believe in a cause they are too old to fight for. But his respected position as a man of letters brought him some unusual experiences, such as a trip to Washington in which he met President Lincoln, Secretaries Seward and Chase, and other key figures in the government. Inspecting West Point as a member of the Board of Visitors, he was deeply impressed by the character and spartan training of the cadets who were soon to see action.

At the war’s end, busy again with a heavy lecture schedule and feeling his age a little, he took a long look back at the conflict and concluded that war “heals a deeper wound than any it makes.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674484788
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	07/02/1982
Series:	Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson Series , #15
Pages:	624
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Linda Allardt is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Rochester.

David W. Hill is Associate Professor of English at the State University of New York College at Oswego.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD TO VOLUME XV

The Journals: 1860-1866

Chronology

Symbols and Abbreviations

PART ONE

The Texts of the Journals

DL

GL

WAR

VA

FOR

KL

PART TWO

The Texts of the Miscellaneous Notebooks

HT

Pocket Diary 13

Pocket Diary 14

Pocket Diary 15

Pocket Diary 16

Appendix I Journals and Notebooks in the Harvard Edition

Appendix II Montreal Herald Report of "Classes of Men"

Textual Notes

Index

Editorial Reviews

What appeals in this volume is the freshness and nearness of Emerson the person. A man so reserved and scrupulous is only to be known in his private journals. That his earlier editors Edward Waldo Emerson and Waldo Emerson Forbes made him less of a person is well known. This latest volume furthers the restoration of his wildness, his uncertainties, and his originality.

American Historical Review

That the editors have been able to order this fascinating chaos is a tribute to their patience, intelligence, and skill. There will never have to be another edition.

New York Times Book Review

No American mind stands more influentially for creativity than Emerson’s. And these lifelong records, his journals particularly, provide unique glimpses into his growth… His journalizing was literary practice, but above all, it was a heritage from the unsparing Puritan self-examination of the spirit.

Chicago Tribune

No American mind stands more influentially for creativity than Emerson’s. And these lifelong records, his journals particularly, provide unique glimpses into his growth… His journalizing was literary practice, but above all, it was a heritage from the unsparing Puritan self-examination of the spirit.

Chicago Tribune

That the editors have been able to order this fascinating chaos is a tribute to their patience, intelligence, and skill. There will never have to be another edition.

New York Times Rook Review