RT Article
T1 Reading Thoreau in the 21st Century: Whither and Why?
JF Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
VO 16
IS 4
SP 497
OP 517
A1 Gould, Rebecca Kneale
LA English
YR 2022
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1837134464
AB This essay offers a critical re-assessment of Henry David Thoreau’s life and legacy in the context of contemporary critiques of the mainstream environmental tradition. It takes seriously concerns raised about Thoreau’s status as a privileged white male, but calls for more nuance. In particular, the essay challenges those portraits of Thoreau that emphasize Thoreau’s status as a devotee of American nature religion to the exclusion of Thoreau’s significant contributions as an abolitionist and as a prescient critic of an emergent culture of consumption that relied on slavery for its success. The essay assesses the ambivalent legacies that Thoreau left in his wake, demonstrating those moments when Thoreau’s public life as a social critic chafed against his most deeply held spiritual orientations and practices.
K1 Abolitionism
K1 African-American
K1 Drew Lanham
K1 Henry David Thoreau
K1 Transcendentalism
K1 black writers
K1 Environmental
K1 nature religion
K1 Race
K1 Slavery
K1 Wilderness
DO 10.1558/jsrnc.25139