Walden and Resistance to Civil Government

ForthisNortonCriticalEdition,thetextsofbothWuldenand"ResistancetoCivilGovernment"areagainbasedontheirfirsteditions.TheeditorhasincorporatedallofThoreau'sadditionstoWalden,andtheseandallotheremendationsarenowsummarizedinatableoftextualvariants.Throughout,annotationshavebeenrevisedandexpanded.Asaspecialfeature,theSecondEditionincludesamuch-expandedselectionfromThoreau'sJournal,mostofitreprintedbyspecialarrangementwithPrincetonUniversityPressfromthedefinitiveeditionofhiswritings.DrawinguponnewIyavailablematerialwrittenduringThoreau'stwo-yearstayatWaldenPondandaccompaniedbytheeditor'sessayon"TheJournalandWalden,"theseselectionsrepresentandilluminatetheentire184554period,duringwhichThoreauwrote,rewrote,andextensivelyrevisedWalden.Theselectionofcontemporaryreviewshasbeenexpandedtoincludetwonoticesof"ResistancetoCivilGovernment"andthreereviewsofWaldenthathavecometolightillrecentyears,amongthemonebyElizabethBarstowStoddardandanotherattributedtoLydiaMariaChild.The"Criticism"sectionhasbeenrefocusedoncriticismwrittenbetween1941and1991inordertorepresentinfluentialessayswrittenintheI940s,1950s,and1960saswellasthediversityofrecentcommentaryonThoreau'stwofamousworks.LandmarkessaysbyF.O.Matthiesson,RichardDrinnon,E.B.White,andShermanPaulhavebeenretainedfromtheFirstEdition,whileimportantandtheoreticallyvariedessaysbyLeoMarx,StanleyCavell,WalterBennMichaels,BarryWood,BarbaraJohnson,RobertSattelmeyer,H.DanielPeck,andLawrenceBuellhavebeenadded.THEEDIFOR:WILLIAMROSSIteachesAmericanliteratureandenvironmentalstudiesattheUniversityofOregon.AUniversityofMinnesotaPh.D.,hehasalsotaughtatTexasTechUniversityandtheUniversityofMissouri.HeisthecoeditorofThoreau'sJournal3:1848I851andofJournal6:1853forthePrincetonUniversityPresseditionofthewritingsofHenryDavidThoreau~HeistheauthorofEssaysonThoreau,RalphWaldoEmerson,andNineteemh-CenturyNaturalScience.COVERILLUSTRATION:PhotographofWaldenPond(June11,1901)byHerbertW.Gleason.CopyrightTheHerbertw.GleasonCollection,1981~Allrightsreserved.Reprintedbypermission.