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Henry David Thoreau: Walden ou la vie dans les bois Walden or life in the woods (French language, 1992, Aubier)

Walden (; first published in 1854 as Walden; or, Life in the Woods) is a …

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Having always been deeply suspicious of Thoreau, I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. "Walden" is often misunderstood as an ode to the self-sufficient hermit lifestyle, which it certainly isn't, and couldn't possibly be: Thoreau was, by his own admission,squatting on Ralph Waldo Emerson's land, and Thoreau received frequent visitors. In fact, much of "Walden" revolves around Thoreau's social interactions with travelers, family, and friends,and Thoreau himself admits he has to walk into town every day or two to keep from going crazy. (This need to be around other people downgraded my image of Thoreau from lumbersexual misanthrope to mildly eccentric introvert.)

Instead, "Walden" is mostly about living with purpose, as suggested by the oft-quoted phrase "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately". The first chapter, "Economy", deals with this most directly, as Thoreau tosses off aphorism after aphorism that would be right at home on any lifestyle blog or Silicon Valley manifesto ("Don't trust anyone over thirty."). I didn't agree with many of Thoreau's exhortations, but have to admit they make for good reading. Thoreau gets a lot less polemical in the following chapters, but also a lot less interesting; I felt the bulk of the memorable writing was in the first chapter and, judging from the quotes I see others pull out of the book, I think that's a pretty common sentiment. So, read "Economy", but feel free to skip the rest unless you have a thing for ponds.