Thoreau in his own time : a biographical chronicle of his life, drawn from recollections, interviews, and memoirs by family, friends, and associates / edited by Sandra Harbert Petrulionis.

"More than any other Transcendentalist of his time, Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) embodied the full complement of the movement's ideals and vocations: author, advocate for self-reform, stern critic of society, abolitionist, philosopher, and naturalist. The Thoreau of our time - valorized anarchist, founding environmentalist, and fervid advocate of civil disobedience - did not exist in the nineteenth century. In this rich and appealing collection, Sandra Harbert Petrulionis untangles Thoreau's multiple identities by offering a wide range of nineteenth-century commentary as the opinions of those who knew him evolved over time. The forty-nine recollections gathered in Thoreau in His Own Time demonstrate that it was those who knew him personally, rather than his contemporary literati, who most prized Thoreau's message, but even those who disparaged him respected his unabashed example of an unconventional life. Included are comments by Ralph Waldo Emerson - friend, mentor, Walden landlord, and progenitor of the spin on Thoreau's posthumous reputation; Nathaniel Hawthorne, who could not compliment Thoreau without simultaneously denigrating him; and John Weiss, whose extended commentary on Thoreau's spirituality reflects unusual tolerance. Selections from the correspondence of Caroline Healey Dall, Maria Thoreau, Sophia Hawthorne, Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley, and Amanda Mather amplify our understanding of the ways in which nineteenth-century women viewed Thoreau. An excerpt by John Burroughs, who alternately honored and condemned Thoreau, asserts his view that Thoreau was ever searching for the unattainable. The dozens of primary sources in this crisply edited collection illustrate the complexity of Thoreau's iconoclastic singularity in a way that no one biographer could. Each entry is introduced by a headnote that places the selection in historical and cultural context. Petrulionis's comprehensive introduction and her detailed chronology of personal and literary events in Thoreau's life provide a lively and informative gateway to the entries themselves. The collaborative biography that Petrulionis creates in Thoreau in His Own Time contextualizes the strikingly divergent views held by his contemporaries and highlights the reasons behind his profound legacy."--Project Muse.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction; Chronology; Lidian Jackson Emerson, [Epistolary Comments on Thoreau in the 1840s]; Abigail May Alcott, [Thoreau at Walden in 1847]; Amos Bronson Alcott, [Journal and Epistolary Remarks on Thoreau, 1847-1859]; Ralph Waldo Emerson, [Reflections on Thoreau through the Years]; Horace Greeley, [Promoting Thoreau, 1846-1855]; Nathaniel Hawthorne, [Journal and Epistolary Comments on Thoreau, 1842-1854]; Maria Thoreau, [News of the Thoreau Family in 1849 and 1857]; John Albee, [A Day with Thoreau and Emerson in 1852]; Ellen Tucker Emerson, [Memories of Thoreau, 1857 and 1860].

[Edith Emerson Forbes], [Childhood with Thoreau, as Remembered in 1882]Sophia E. Thoreau, Caroline Wells Healey Dall, Sophia Peabody Hawthorne, and Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley, [Considerations of Thoreau's Death, 1862]; [Charles T. Jackson], "Notice of the Death of Mr. Thoreau" (1862); [Louisa May Alcott], "Thoreau's Flute" (1863); [John Weiss], From "Thoreau" (1865); Samuel Storrow Higginson, [Remembrances of Thoreau in 1865]; [Moncure Daniel Conway], From "Thoreau" (1866); Eugene Benson, From "Literary Frondeurs" (1866).

[George William Curtis], From the "Editor's Easy Chair" (1869, 1874, and 1878)William Ellery Channing, From Thoreau:The Poet-Naturalist (1873); Louise Chandler Moulton, From "Henry David Thoreau: The 'Poet-Naturalist' of Concord" (1874); James T. Fields, From "Our Poet-Naturalist" (1877); [Harriet Hanson Robinson], ["Warrington" and Henry Thoreau] (1877); Joseph Hosmer Jr., [Reminiscences of Thoreau] (1878, 1881, and 1882); Thomas Wentworth Higginson, From "Thoreau" (1879); Walt Whitman, [Appraisals of Thoreau] (1888); Prescott Keyes, "Henry D. Thoreau: A Disquisition" (1879).

William Sloane Kennedy, From "A New Estimate of Thoreau" (1880)John Burroughs, From "Thoreau's Wildness" (1881); H.G.O. Blake, "Introductory Note" to Early Spring in Massachusetts (1881); F.B. Sanborn, From Henry D. Thoreau (1882); H.S. Salt, From "Henry D. Thoreau" (1886); Edward Sherman Hoar, [Conversations on Concord] (1892 and 1893); Octavius Brooks Frothingham, From "Thoreau" (1889); Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, From "Glimpses of Force: Thoreau and Alcott" (1891); Julian Hawthorne and Leonard Lemmon, From "Henry David Thoreau" (1891).

[Horace R. Hosmer], From "Reminiscences of Thoreau" (1893)Anonymous, From "Memories of Thoreau" (1897); S[amuel] A[rthur] J[ones], From "Thoreau's Incarceration" (1898); Amanda P. Mather, [Recollections of Thoreau and Concord] (1897-1898); Anonymous, From "Reminiscences of Thoreau" (1899); Daniel Ricketson, From "Sketch of Henry D. Thoreau" (1902); George F. Hoar, [Reminiscences of Henry Thoreau] (1903); Ellen Watson, [Thoreau's Visit to Plymouth in 1851] (1894); [Fanny Hardy Eckstorm], From "Thoreau's 'Maine Woods'" (1908); Thomas Wentworth Higginson, From "Henry D. Thoreau" (1909).

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