Following Thoreau’s Tracks

Abstract

Two recent books track Thoreau through history: the first tracks the evolution of his reputation as an advocate for nature, and the second follows the literal tracks of his journeys to the Maine Woods. Richard Judd’s Finding Thoreau addresses the questions, “How did Americans in different ages react to Thoreau? and What insights might we gain about American culture by tracing the history of this commentary?” (ix-x). Judd’s approach to this question is historiographical rather than literary. Recognizing the well-established truism that Thoreau’s writing can “support any number of wildly different interpretations,” Judd is interested in how “each generation, according to its own cultural needs, aspirations, and anxieties, took advantage of this” (x). He thus offers not a literary assessment of Thoreau’s writing but an assessment of others’ interpretations of Thoreau.