Henry David Thoreau; a critical study
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| Henry David Thoreau; a critical study |
This study is founded pretty largely, it will be seen, in Thoreau's Journal, which has not been examined before, so far as I know, with much attention to chronology.
If new emphasis has been placed here or there, it is because new ground has been covered. If now and then unwelcome conclusions are arrived at, the Journal is to blame; the Journal is important, I think, not because it is the most attractive, but because it is the most complete, picture of Thoreau's mind. I am led to attach a preface to so slight an essay mainly by the consciousness of certain debts which I have incurred while occupied with Thoreau, and which I desire very much to acknowledge somewhere. T
he essay owes most to Professor S. P. Sherman, of the University of Illinois, who was its constant stimulus when it was being written, and to my brother, Carl Van Doren, who gave invaluable aid when it was being revised. Professor A. H. Thorndike and Professor W. P. Trent, of Columbia University, kindly read the manuscript and made important editions.
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