Walden - Henry David Thoreau

. .

Résumé :
I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. Published in the mid-19th century, Walden chronicles Henry David Thoreau's life secluded from society as he lived in a small cabin at Walden Pond. One of the most compelling books in American literature, Walden is a reminiscence of self-discovery that resonates even more so in today's hectic world. A journey to self-discovery, Thoreau's two years, two months, and two days spent living in a natural surrounding provides us with the insight to his renewed spirituality and a guide to simple living and self-reliance. Included is Thoreau's famous essay On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.

Biographie:
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 - May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Civil Disobedience (originally published as Resistance to Civil Government), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, in which he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern-day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close observation of nature, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and attention to practical detail.[4] He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs