Solid Seasons
The Friendship of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Counterpoint, 2019)
The Friendship of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Counterpoint, 2019)
Any biography that concentrates on either Henry David Thoreau or Ralph Waldo Emerson tends to diminish the other figure, but in Solid Seasons both men remain central and equal. Through several decades of writing, friendship remained a primary theme for them both.
Collecting extracts from the letters and journals of both men, as well as words written about them by their contemporaries, Solid Seasons beautifully illustrates the full nature of their twenty-five-year dialogue. Biographers like to point at the crisis in their friendship, focusing particularly on Thoreau’s disappointment in Emerson—rarely on Emerson’s own disappointment in Thoreau—and leaving it there, a friendship ruptured.
But the solid seasons remained, as is evident when, in 1878, Anne Burrows Gilchrist, the English writer and friend of Whitman, visited Emerson. She wrote that his memory was failing “as to recent names and topics but as is usual in such cases all the mental impressions that were made when he was in full vigour remain clear and strong.”
As they chatted, Emerson called to his wife, Lidian, in the next room, “What was the name of my best friend?”
“Henry Thoreau,” she answered.
“Oh, yes,” Emerson repeated. “Henry Thoreau.”
Collecting extracts from the letters and journals of both men, as well as words written about them by their contemporaries, Solid Seasons beautifully illustrates the full nature of their twenty-five-year dialogue. Biographers like to point at the crisis in their friendship, focusing particularly on Thoreau’s disappointment in Emerson—rarely on Emerson’s own disappointment in Thoreau—and leaving it there, a friendship ruptured.
But the solid seasons remained, as is evident when, in 1878, Anne Burrows Gilchrist, the English writer and friend of Whitman, visited Emerson. She wrote that his memory was failing “as to recent names and topics but as is usual in such cases all the mental impressions that were made when he was in full vigour remain clear and strong.”
As they chatted, Emerson called to his wife, Lidian, in the next room, “What was the name of my best friend?”
“Henry Thoreau,” she answered.
“Oh, yes,” Emerson repeated. “Henry Thoreau.”
Read an excerpt at Lapham's Quarterly
What people are saying...
"Cramer ... intelligently examines the bond between two famous authors in an admirable volume that mixes biography with selections of their writing.... makes his way surely through the 'intricacies and intimacies' of their sometimes fraught but ultimately rewarding quarter-century of friendship." — Publishers Weekly
Jeffrey S. Cramer’s new book ... fills in, for the first time, the highlights, shadows, and fundamental imbalances that never quite ruined Thoreau and Emerson’s friendship, even as it brought both men great pain.... When I finally finished Solid Seasons, when I closed its cover and laid it on my floor, I felt a remarkable presence, even though I was alone. It’s an idiosyncratic book, a minimalist history, Thoreauvian in its desire to be just as it is, generous in the way it bares itself, full of trust that readers are smart enough to spin conclusions for themselves, and intense in its demand that they elevate themselves to the task. — Daegan Miller, LA Review of Books
"Cramer brings both authority and sensitivity to his biographical overview and to a judicious selection of excerpts from the men’s prolific writings.... A deeply sympathetic dual biography." — Kirkus
"An illuminating history of an exceptional friendship." — Booklist (Starred review)
"A Transcendental affinity.... an engaging account of the friendship between Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson."— The Wall Street Journal
"This is a rich cornucopia for Emerson and Thoreau enthusiasts, who will feel the pulse of each man's heart beat through the words as they come alive on the page."— America: The Jesuit Review
"Cramer’s lucid, spare writing and deep knowledge join one quotation to the next without seeming effort. The book’s two primary characters become familiars, each one easily approached, often via the observation of the other. Cramer has a knack for choosing and integrating his subjects’ words, and from that you get sentences and stories that are easy walking. That sums to a wonderful read, both for the general reader interested in Emerson and Thoreau, and for those who feel themselves academic family to these two famous 19th-century thinkers and writers.” — The Roost
"Cramer ... intelligently examines the bond between two famous authors in an admirable volume that mixes biography with selections of their writing.... makes his way surely through the 'intricacies and intimacies' of their sometimes fraught but ultimately rewarding quarter-century of friendship." — Publishers Weekly
Jeffrey S. Cramer’s new book ... fills in, for the first time, the highlights, shadows, and fundamental imbalances that never quite ruined Thoreau and Emerson’s friendship, even as it brought both men great pain.... When I finally finished Solid Seasons, when I closed its cover and laid it on my floor, I felt a remarkable presence, even though I was alone. It’s an idiosyncratic book, a minimalist history, Thoreauvian in its desire to be just as it is, generous in the way it bares itself, full of trust that readers are smart enough to spin conclusions for themselves, and intense in its demand that they elevate themselves to the task. — Daegan Miller, LA Review of Books
"Cramer brings both authority and sensitivity to his biographical overview and to a judicious selection of excerpts from the men’s prolific writings.... A deeply sympathetic dual biography." — Kirkus
"An illuminating history of an exceptional friendship." — Booklist (Starred review)
"A Transcendental affinity.... an engaging account of the friendship between Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson."— The Wall Street Journal
"This is a rich cornucopia for Emerson and Thoreau enthusiasts, who will feel the pulse of each man's heart beat through the words as they come alive on the page."— America: The Jesuit Review
"Cramer’s lucid, spare writing and deep knowledge join one quotation to the next without seeming effort. The book’s two primary characters become familiars, each one easily approached, often via the observation of the other. Cramer has a knack for choosing and integrating his subjects’ words, and from that you get sentences and stories that are easy walking. That sums to a wonderful read, both for the general reader interested in Emerson and Thoreau, and for those who feel themselves academic family to these two famous 19th-century thinkers and writers.” — The Roost
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