Chapter 32 Emerson and Thoreau

In the history of literature, Hawthorne has been classified into the Concord school, and Emerson and Thoreau are also famous representatives of this school, so I want to talk about these two writers next.Readers with different tastes have different opinions on it.For my part, I was neither bored nor entertained while reading it.Very well written, written lightly and beautifully without being formal.But if I were snowed out on a western prairie with a deaf man as my only companion and found out it was the only book in the cabin, I think I'd be disheartened.Such a work would normally require an author with a vibrant personality, extraordinary life experience, and an unusual reserve of knowledge, but Thoreau was a lazy and short-sighted person.The books he read, respectable though they were, had already been read a million times.Also, I think Thoreau's emotion lacks the power to make readers feel that the main point of his book-experience, is so important.Thoreau discovered that if a person limits his desires, they can be satisfied at little cost.We have known this for a long time.Hawthorne said: "Cultivating the habit of being with people who are completely different from yourself is of great benefit to a person's moral and spiritual health. Such people will not care about your pursuit, and you must have the ability to step out of yourself. to appreciate his ability in the world around us.” This is so true, and writers especially need to take it to heart.

Emerson is far more important than Thoreau.I was first introduced to Emerson many years ago by a fair-haired lady I met on the shores of Lake Como.She always carried a volume of Emerson's Essays with us on our excursions.She underlined with a blue pencil the sentences that moved her, at least two or three on each page.She told me that Emerson was her consolation, from whom she could always get the consolation she wanted whenever life was difficult and difficult.Many years later, I met this lady again in Hawaii.She kindly invited me to lunch at her rented vacation lodge.She was already very wealthy, and now she has flourished.Her husband was knighted, and by this time she was a lady.When she received me, she was wearing a long Carlotte dress (the Carlotte sisters were the most prestigious dressmakers in Paris at the time), a string of pearl necklaces worth 50,000 pounds, and no shoes and socks on her feet. . "You see," she said, pointing to her bare feet, "we live a simple life here." I saw some swelling on the inside of her big toe, and felt sympathy.That's when a Chinese butler dressed like a Ming emperor enters with a cocktail in hand.I asked her if she still read Emerson, she grabbed a volume from the table, hugged it tightly into her weakened arms, and told me, of course she still read it, and she carried it with her wherever she went A volume of Emerson's Essays.She raised her jeweled hand and waved towards the blue sea outside the window.She said that if it hadn't been for Emerson, she would never have grasped the spiritual significance of the Pacific Ocean.She died a short time ago, at the end of her life, a disciple of Emerson to the end.She left her yacht and library to a gigolo.He was another consolation in her dying days.However, she didn't leave enough money for the boy to run the yacht, so the boy sold the yacht.Second-hand books aren't worth much, so it's likely that the gigolo is keeping the library.If so, I can only hope Emerson comforts his bereavement.Honestly, I never thought of Emerson as a consolation.I don't want to denigrate a writer who makes his countrymen proud.I admit that he is a great man with great charm and a kind heart.When you read his diary, you will be impressed by his thoughtfulness.Even when he was a child, he was able to do so.Emerson was an orator and wrote as much as he gave a speech.A speech can be enhanced by tone and energy, but loses that power when the pen is written.To be honest, I don't think his famous "Proceedings" are helpful or enjoyable.His articles are one step away from being trite.He can always write vivid sentences, but lacks substantive meaning.He's like a nimble skater, able to dance gracefully and intricately around clichéd ice.Had it not been for this talent, he might have been able to write better articles.But now that Emerson's reputation is so widespread, readers naturally wonder how he has achieved such a high status in the literary world.In this regard, I recommend you to read "The Characteristics of the British".The content of this book is very specific, so its language is not as vague, loose, and superficial as the "Proceedings".Compared with his other works, this book has more vivid words, more accurate words, and more interesting content.I really felt a kind of enjoyment when I read this book.