The Gita within Walden
By: Paul Friedrich.
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 164
ISBN-13: 9780791476178
Subjects: Thoreau, Henry David, -- 1817-1862; Bhagavadgītā; Philosophy in literature; Spirituality in literature
Description: "This book explores and interprets the myriad connections between two spiritual classics, Henry David Thoreau's Walden and the Bhagavad-Gita. Evidence shows that Thoreau took the Gita with him when he moved to Walden Pond, and the books have much in common, touching on ultimate ethical and metaphysical questions. Paul Friedrich looks at how each work speaks to fundamental problems of good and evil, self and cosmos, duty and passion, reality and illusion, political engagement and philosophical meditation, sensuous wildness and ascetic devotion. His examination moves through several stages, from an analysis of key symbols, such as the upside-down tree, to an exposition of social, ethical, and metaphysical values, to a consideration of the many sources of these syncretic works."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.