| FA-58261-15 | Research Programs: Fellowships for University Teachers | Laura Dassow Walls | The Life of American Author Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | 5/1/2015 - 12/31/2015 | $33,600.00 | Laura | Dassow | Walls | | | | University of Notre Dame | Notre Dame | IN | 46556-4635 | USA | 2014 | American Literature | Fellowships for University Teachers | Research Programs | 33600 | 0 | 33600 | 0 |
Funding is sought to complete the first full-scale biography of Henry David Thoreau since 1965. This new biography by a senior Thoreau scholar is based on original research in archival sources, incorporates the leading scholarship on Thoreau in recent decades, and will include fresh readings of his works. Particular emphasis is given to Walden, the Journal, The Maine Woods, and Thoreau's late natural history writings, many of which have only recently been published, together with his anti-slavery activities and his life-long involvement with Native North America. The book's three parts follow Thoreau's journey to Walden Pond; his development as a writer, culminating in Walden; and his continuing growth and experimentation thereafter. The author argues that the meaning of Thoreau's life for us today lies less in his withdrawal to Walden than in his return from Walden to Concord, by which Thoreau sought to demonstrate how a fractured world may be forged into a commons, a Cosmos. |