Although Walden by Henry David Thoreau has fascinated me for years, Louisa May Alcott’s Hospital Sketches is new to me. Obviously, many people know Alcott, another prominent writer from Concord, for Little Women. This past year my daughter read the book for the first time, which is much more than I can boast, but I’ve …
Continue reading "Two Experiments: Walden and Hospital Sketches"
In this week's blog post, I share the details of an early edition of Thoreau's Walden published by the Burt Company, examining the "story" told by both its title page and frontispiece.
Above one of the classroom doors in my high school, there’s a well-known quote credited to Thoreau that so many of us have heard over the years: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you imagine.” No doubt, it’s a beautiful sentiment. And yet every time I pass that classroom, I …
Continue reading "Transcendentalism and the Problem of Misquotation"
This week's post marks number 30 since I started The White Whale, and it's a guest writer, Greg Back, who is an avid writer and teacher. He's also my cousin-in-law. In fact, we were both married in the same church on Spring Hill in Wyalusing. I hope you enjoy his playful look at language and the modern diet.
There’s just something about wading into a cold stream with a fly rod. After many years away, I’d almost forgotten the feeling. Last spring, however, I started reading Vermont River by W. D. Wetherell. It’s a memoir about fly-fishing, a kind of love story about a year in the life of a devout fishermen. It …
Continue reading "Some New Waders and a Stringer Full of Fish Books"
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