“Walden” and Henry David Thoreau - Surprised there wasn’t already a thread on this

[EzRolling]

So here is a general Walden and its author Henry David Thoreau discussion thread.

I think a lot of people get held up on the first chapter of Walden due to the clunky decision to make it by far the longest and broadest chapters of them all. Underneath the dryness of a spreadsheet breaking things down to the half penny is a character that in some ways doesn’t feel all that removed from the “goofiness” of today.

The book itself has a lot of angsty energy of a 27 year old in 1845 which I find hilarious and rather interesting.

Him sauntering around singing songs about how unimpressive everyone is; sporting the truest of neckbeards for the ladies despite having little or no known success in that area just kind of feels not out of place here. Or writing a wordy portion of his internal fantasy of being a knight defending a kingdom when keeping pests out of his food. Or being so sure in one of his books to front the money for a 1,000 copy run; flopping, and then having to buyback the remaining 700 copies because it was taking up too much space.

There is just a certain socially unaware whimsy to him and Walden I just find………endearing might be the word.

 

[Neo-Nazi Rich Evans]

yep, he would have been a weirdo autist who would fit right at home here were he alive today. i know some people dont like walden, and while i can see some of their criticisms, i enjoyed the book when i read it. it lead to me a few of his other works and i enjoyed those too.

 

[el bandito loco]

I went on a school trip a few months after we read Walden in english class and we went to Walden Pond and my friend took a piss in it and made sure to note to me on the bus to the next destination he felt like a new man having pissed in the same water as Thoreau.

 

[EzRolling]

I went on a school trip a few months after we read Walden in english class and we went to Walden Pond and my friend took a piss in it and made sure to note to me on the bus to the next destination he felt like a new man having pissed in the same water as Thoreau.

Honestly that sounds like a joke Thoreau would make in a long winded way.

 

[Rick Nekieta]

So here is a general Walden and its author Henry David Thoreau discussion thread.

I think a lot of people get held up on the first chapter of Walden due to the clunky decision to make it by far the longest and broadest chapters of them all. Underneath the dryness of a spreadsheet breaking things down to the half penny is a character that in some ways doesn’t feel all that removed from the “goofiness” of today.

The book itself has a lot of angsty energy of a 27 year old in 1845 which I find hilarious and rather interesting.

Him sauntering around singing songs about how unimpressive everyone is; sporting the truest of neckbeards for the ladies despite having little or no known success in that area just kind of feels not out of place here. Or writing a wordy portion of his internal fantasy of being a knight defending a kingdom when keeping pests out of his food. Or being so sure in one of his books to front the money for a 1,000 copy run; flopping, and then having to buyback the remaining 700 copies because it was taking up too much space.

There is just a certain socially unaware whimsy to him and Walden I just find………endearing might be the word.

My friend, this is beautiful, simply beautiful.

 

[Sparkletor 2.0]

I'm halfway through the first book, "Where's Waldo". I find it a challenging read. There are so many things happening at once it makes it hard to find Waldo. There's just too much going on!

I hope to finish this one by spring and then it's on to "Where's Waldo Now" and "The Great Waldo Search".

 

[holyhandgrenade]

Thoreau would have been a tranny cock sucking leftist and there’s no doubt in my mind.

 

[fresh pair of socks]

Thoreau was one of those intellectuals who thought India was a place of great spiritual importance. He embraced Hinduism and Indian culture.

That alone is enough for me to dismiss him as an out of touch loon.

 

[EzRolling]

Thoreau was one of those intellectuals who thought India was a place of great spiritual importance. He embraced Hinduism and Indian culture.

That alone is enough for me to dismiss him as an out of touch loon.

He also somewhat thought that of just nature in general regardless of location.

For India at least as far as his thoughts in Walden are shown is based off more the texts that came out of that region (particularly the Bhagavad Gita). And honestly the Gita both from a narrative and religious context seems more complex than the Torah.

 

[Forever A Loner]

Read this book in its entirety during high school because I honestly thought it was more interesting than the repetitive bullshit they wanted us to work on during class. Later went to see Walden Pond in person.