“Shall I not have intelligence with the earth?”

Aspects of Henry David Thoreau's Botany

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26512/cerrados.v31i60.43122

Keywords:

Thoreau, botany, nature essay

Abstract

In this paper we present aspects of a thoreauvian romantic botany. Until the end of his life, the writer was active as a field botanist who collected empirical data on the flora of his region. At the same time, he harshly criticized positivist sciences and propagated in his works an access to the plant world from a pantheistic aesthetic, involving affectivity and spirituality. In addition, he took a clear stand against the advance of internal colonialism and capitalism in the countryside, a process that implied the instrumentalization and commodification of life in general. Henry David Thoreau's combination of empirical research with aesthetic sensibility and anti-colonial stance is of more interest today than ever before.

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Author Biography

Klaus Eggensperger, UFPR

Possui mestrado em Letras pela Universidade Hamburg, Alemanha e doutorado em Linguística pela Universidade Osnabrück, Alemanha. Leitor do DAAD na UFPR entre 1995 e 2002 e professor visitante na Universidade de Dortmund, Alemanha, em 2003. Pós-Doutorado concluído na USP, FFLCH, 2013/2014. Atualmente é professor associado da Universidade Federal do Paraná, atuando na Graduação no Departamento de Letras Estrangeiras Modernas (Área de Inglês) e na Pós-Graduação em Letras como orientador de mestrado e doutorado. Fundador do Grupo de Estudos Ecocríticos GECO na UFPR. Áreas: Ecocrítica, Teoria Estética (Teoria Crítica; Freud), Literaturas de Língua Inglesa, Literatura Alemã.

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Published

2022-12-29

How to Cite

Eggensperger, K. (2022). “Shall I not have intelligence with the earth?”: Aspects of Henry David Thoreau’s Botany. Revista Cerrados, 31(60), 25–33. https://doi.org/10.26512/cerrados.v31i60.43122

Issue

Vol. 31 No. 60 (2022): Dossiê - Imaginários Botânicos

Section

Dossiê - Imaginários botânicos

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