Walden's Shore: Henry David Thoreau and Nineteenth-Century Science
In his 1854 masterpieceWalden, the U.S. writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau invites us to ‘wedge our feet downward…till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place, which we can call reality.’ GeologistRobert Thorsonobliges, focusing on Thoreau as a flinty amateur geologist to reinject science into his literary legacy. Thoreau, Thorson persuasively argues, was as grounded in rock as he was in the elemental understanding of the cosmos sought by the Transcendentalist movement. (Nature2014-01-02)[Thorson] adds depth to the iconic image of Thoreau, revered for his contributions to the American literary renaissance and his role as a social reformer. Thorson uses Thoreau's journals as a source for his contention that he had a keen interest in geology and the emerging theories of geological evolution reflected in Charles Darwin'sJournal of Researches(1851), which Thoreau read with great interest.(Kirkus Reviews2013-10-15)Walden's Shorehas no predecessor in the field of Thoreau studies. It is a welcome addition and a needed reassessment of an iconic figure. (Jeffrey S. Cramer, editor ofThe Portable Thoreau)The work of an extraordinary mind.Thorsonseeks to ground what is arguably the greatest piece of non-fiction produced in America, and one of the world's classics, not in the field of language where it has long been situated but rather in the material universe with which Thoreau extensively interacted and on which he long meditated. He stunningly succeeds in this effort. (Wayne Franklin, University of Connecticut)Walden’s Shoreis a serious, substantial, and impressively erudite entry into the field--a model for how interdisciplinary approaches can bring original and revelatory perspectives to bear on even the most well-worn texts…Thorson’s careful reconstruction of Thoreau’s likely knowledge of landscape formation and glacial theory is especially impressive, and constitutes a comprehensive account of Thoreau’s relation to what was apparently a major scientific controversy of the mid-19th century. (James WilliamsPopMatters2014-04-22)Thorsonsays that literary types haven’t had the scientific chops to recognize, among other things, Thoreau’s ‘genius for river channel hydraulics’ and how close he came to discovering glacial theory (then unformed, now proved) to explain his terrain of erratic boulders and kettle ponds. Thorson says that Thoreau changed from ‘science light’ to ‘science heavy’ around 1851, and his writing shed much of the ecstatic divine metaphors for a style closer to field notes. (Katherine WhittemoreBoston Globe2014-05-25)