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Transcendence: Seers and Seekers in the Age of Thoreau

François Specq

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This trim book of essays comes to American students of transcendentalism from France, proof in hand that there is, indeed, lively and ongoing interest in Thoreau. in. the Gallic heart of Europe. Francois Specq, a long time member of the Thoreau Society, is professor of American Literature, and Culture at the Ecole Normale Superieure, Lettres. et Sciences Humaines in Lyon, France, where he specializes in nineteenth century, American literature. This collection gathers together a number of his recent essays on Thoreau, Emerson. Melville and the painters Frederic Church and William Bradford, making them available for the first time in English. Specq's multiple perspectives as a French Americanist with a Thoreauvian angle of vision are what make these essays so though shot through with great breadth of reference and knowledge, they have a winning intimacy of tone. One of Specq's themes is the interplay of knowledge and ignorance in Thoreau, who advised us. that "to be really present in the world" we must not only learn science but forget it (70).

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2008