This collection of Emerson's essays covers the contents of two volumes originally published in 1841 and 1844. Annotation. Our most eloquent champion of individualism, Emerson acknowledges at the same time the countervailing pressures of society in American life. Even as he extols what he called "the great and crescive self," he dramatizes and records its vicissitudes. Here is a collection of his classic essays, including the exhortation to "Self-Reliance" and the embattled realizations of "Circles" and "Experience." Here, too, are his wide-ranging discourses on history, art, politics, nature, friendship, love, and much more. For the first time, the authoritative editions of works by major American novelists, poets, scholars, and essayists collected in the hardcover volumes of The Library of America are being published singly in a series of handsome and durable paperback books. A distinguished author has contributed an introduction for each volume, which also includes a detailed chronol

"A comprehensive collection of writings by "the most influential writer of the nineteenth century" (Harold Bloom) Ralph Waldo Emerson's diverse body of work has done more than perhaps any other thinker to shape and define the American mind. Literary giants including Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Walt Whitman were among Emerson's admirers and proteges, while his central text, Nature, singlehandedly engendered an entire spiritual and intellectual movement in transcendentalism. This long-awaited update-the first in more than thirty years-presents the core of Emerson's writings, including Nature and The American Scholar, along with revelatory journal entries, letters, poetry, and a sermon"--

This collection presents the letters, essays, and poems of the celebrated American writer and provides running commentaries to help shed light on particular passages and examine the writer's motives and style. A brilliant essayist and a master of the aphorism ("Our moods do not believe in each other"; "Money often costs too much"), Emerson has inspired countless writers. He challenged Americans to shut their ears against Europe's "courtly muses" and to forge a new, distinctly American cultural identity. But he remains one of America's least understood writers. And, by his own admission, he spawned neither school nor follower (he valued independent thought too much). Now, in this annotated selection of Emerson's writings, the author instructs the reader in a larger appreciation of Emerson's essential works and the remarkable thinker who produced them. Contains color illustrations as well as archival photographs. In his running commentaries on Emerson's essays, addresses, and poems, the

"This fully illustrated collection of writings by Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the first American thinkers to incorporate the power of wild nature into his philosophy, provides timeless insight into the natural world and our place in it"--Provided by publisher.

With Selected journals 1820-1842 and its companion volume Selected journals 1841-1877, the Library of America presents the most ample and comprehensive nonspecialist edition of Emerson's work ever published--one that retains the original order in which he composed his thoughts and preserves the range of his style in long, uninterrupted passages, but without the daunting critical apparatus of the 16-volume scholarly edition. Selected journals 1820-1842 begins with Emerson's first journal entry, on January 25, 1820, and follows him through his early years at Harvard College and the Divinity School, his ordination as a Unitarian minister, his marriage to Ellen Tucker and her untimely death, his decision to leave the ministry, and his travels in England and on the Continent. It offers perspective on the intellectual currents of the day--the emergence of Transcendentalism; the furor over Emerson's "Divinity School Address"; the founding of The Dial; experiments in communal living at Fruitla

Here are Ralph Waldo Emerson's classic essays, including the exhortation to "Self-Reliance," the embattled realizations of "Circles" and "Experience," and the groundbreaking achievement of "Nature." Our most eloquent champion of individualism, Emerson acknowledges at the same time the countervailing pressures of society in American life. Even as he extols what he calls "the great and crescive self," he dramatizes and records its vicissitudes. Also gathered here are his wide-ranging discourses on history, art, politics, friendship, love, and much more.

Places the text of Lao Tse's Tao te Ching on facing pages with the poetry of Emerson to show how the two authors re united in an inspired wisdom and common spirit.