Thoreau's democratic withdrawal: alienation, participation, and modernity 9780299233945, 9780299233938

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‘Thoreau’s Democratic Withdrawal

“* STUDIES IN AMERICAN THOUGHT *®*

AND CULTURE

Series Editor Paul 8. Boyer

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‘Lhoreau’s

Democratic Withdrawal Alienation, Participation, and Modernity

Shannon L. Mariotti

This book was published with support from SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY and the ANONYMOUS FUND OF THE COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN- MADISON The University of Wisconsin Press 1930 Monroe Street, 3rd Floor Madison, Wisconsin 53711-2059 uwpress. wisc.edu

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I3542 Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mariotti, Shannon L. ‘Thoreau’s democratic withdrawal : alienation, participation, and modernity / Shannon L. Mariotti.

p. cm.—(Studies in American thought and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-299-23394-5 (pbk.: alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-299-23393-8 (e-book)

1. Lhoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862—Political and social views.

2. Solitude— Political aspects. [. ‘Title. II. Series.

PS3057.P64.M37 2009 818’.309— dc22 2009008143

To

David

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Contents

Acknowledgments ix Preface: Reclarming Spaces of Withdrawal for Democratic Politics Xi

Introduction: Reading ‘Thoreau with Adorno 3 Partl *«* Two Interlocutors for Thoreau: Adorno and Emerson I Damaged Life, the Microscopic Gaze, and Adorno’s

Practice of Negative Dialectics 33

2 Alienated Existence, Focal Distancing, and Emerson’s

‘Transcendental Idealism 58 Part2 «