Synopses & Reviews
The final volume of the Harvard edition presents the journals of Emerson's last years. In them, he reacts to the changing America of the post-Civil War years, commenting on Reconstruction, immigration, protectionism in trade, and the dangers of huge fortunes in few hands--as well as on baseball and the possibilities of air travel. His role as a Harvard Overseer evokes his thoughts on education during crucial years of reform in American universities.
His travels take him to Europe for the third time, and for the first time he encounters the new garden of California and the enigma of Egypt. He continues to lecture, and a second volume of poems and two more collections of essays, culled from his manuscripts, are published. Finally, his late journals show Emerson confronting his loss of creative vigor, husbanding his powers, and maintaining his equanimity in the face of decline.
This concluding volume thus gives a complex picture of Emerson in his last sixteen years, facing old age but still the advocate of "newness" throughout the world.
Review
What appeals in this volume is the freshness and nearness of Emerson the person. A man so reserved and scrupulous is only to be known in his private journals. That his earlier editors Edward Waldo Emerson and Waldo Emerson Forbes made him less of a person is well known. This latest volume furthers the restoration of his wildness, his uncertainties, and his originality. American Historical Review
Review
No American mind stands more influentially for creativity than Emerson's. And these lifelong records, his journals particularly, provide unique glimpses into his growth...His journalizing was literary practice, but above all, it was a heritage from the unsparing Puritan self-examination of the spirit. Chicago Tribune
Review
[Emerson's journals] make the fullness of his humanity and his understanding of the country he was living in unmistakable. By contrast the published works proclaim the various stances he was driven to assume...In the journals he is both more hard-headed and more warm-hearted.
Review
That the editors have been able to order this fascinating chaos is a tribute to their patience, intelligence, and skill. There will never have to be another edition. New York Times Rook Review
Synopsis
The final volume of the Harvard edition presents the journals of Emerson's last years. In them, he reacts to the changing America of the post-Civil War years, commenting on Reconstruction, immigration, protectionism in trade, and the dangers of huge fortunes in few hands--as well as on baseball and the possibilities of air travel. Finally, his late journals show Emerson confronting his loss of creative vigor, husbanding his powers, and maintaining his equanimity in the face of decline.
About the Author
Ronald A. Bosco, Distinguished Professor of English and American Literature, State University of New York at Albany, is General Editor of the Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson.Glen M. Johnson is Professor of English, The Catholic University of America.
The Catholic University of America
Table of Contents
FOREWORD TO VOLUME XVI
The Journals: 1866-1882
Chronology
Symbols and Abbreviations
PART ONE
The Texts of the Journals
LN
NY
ST
PART TWO
The Texts of the Miscellaneous Notebooks
Books Large
Pocket Diary 17
Pocket Diary 18
Pocket Diary 19
Pocket Diary 20
Pocket Diary 21
Pocket Diary 22
Pocket Diary 23
Pocket Diary 24
Pocket Diary 25
Pocket Diary 26
Pocket Diary 27
Pocket Diary 28
Pocket Diary 29
Pocket Diary 30
Pocket Diary 31
Appendix I Journals and Notebooks in the Harvard Edition
Appendix II Author and Title Entries in Notebook Books Large
Textual Notes
Index