Communication

E-mail

How are you using this site? What else would you like to see here? E-mail Ann Woodlief at transcendentalism@earthlink.net.

Transcendental texts, especially those of Emerson and Thoreau, are complex, open for multiple possibilities for meaning and interpretation. As these writers understood, readers each bring their own special perspectives, giving life to passages which engage their attention. Sharing those perspectives, questions, and information is an essential Transcendental process, one which they were able to cultivate in their conversations. The Internet offers modern readers other ways they can share.

"Annotating" texts with mini-conversations about words or passages is an option we have on this site. Here are four Annotators, still "live," done by an undergraduate class in American Romanticism at Virginia Commonwealth University (they will open in another window). Feel free to add any serious commentary or questions.

• Emerson, "The Rhodora"
• Emerson, "Each and All"
• Emerson, "Hamatreya"
• Emerson, "Circles"

Created just for the American Transcendentalism Web [June 2003] are the following Annotators. Anyone who has interesting and relevant comments, interpretations, or questions on a word or short passage is invited to join in. You may add your e-mail address to your name if you like, but it is not necessary. Let me know if you'd like to see more sections of texts here for discussion, or if you'd like a password-protected Annotator set up for a particular group or class.

• Emerson, Nature: Introduction
• Emerson, Nature: Chapter 1
• NEW! "Self-Reliance"
• Thoreau, Walden" Chapter 2, "Where I Lived and What I Lived For"

The Walden Discussion [e-mail] List This is a very busy list.

Concordia Discussion Group. This is "dedicated to the town of Concord, Massachusetts and discussion of the life and thought of the New England Transcendentalists and those influenced by their Transcendental Philosophy and spirituality."

The Emerson Discussion List. Established Dec. 2004.

Emerson Discussion List. [Transcendentalists.com]

Site Established June 2002