The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson
In the spring of 1871, Ralph Waldo Emerson boarded a train in Concord, Massachusetts, bound for a month-and-a-half-long tour of California—an interlude that became one of the highlights of his life. On their journey across the American West, he and his companions would take in breathtaking vistas in the Rockies and along the Pacific Coast, speak with a young John Muir in the Yosemite Valley, stop off in Salt Lake City for a meeting with Brigham Young, and encounter a diversity of communities and cultures that would challenge their Yankee prejudices.

Based on original research employing newly discovered documents, The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson maps the public story of this group’s travels onto the private story of Emerson’s final years, as aphasia set in and increasingly robbed him of his words. Engaging and compelling, this travelogue makes it clear that Emerson was still capable of wonder, surprise, and friendship, debunking the presumed darkness of his last decade.

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The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson
In the spring of 1871, Ralph Waldo Emerson boarded a train in Concord, Massachusetts, bound for a month-and-a-half-long tour of California—an interlude that became one of the highlights of his life. On their journey across the American West, he and his companions would take in breathtaking vistas in the Rockies and along the Pacific Coast, speak with a young John Muir in the Yosemite Valley, stop off in Salt Lake City for a meeting with Brigham Young, and encounter a diversity of communities and cultures that would challenge their Yankee prejudices.

Based on original research employing newly discovered documents, The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson maps the public story of this group’s travels onto the private story of Emerson’s final years, as aphasia set in and increasingly robbed him of his words. Engaging and compelling, this travelogue makes it clear that Emerson was still capable of wonder, surprise, and friendship, debunking the presumed darkness of his last decade.

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The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson

The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson

by Brian C. Wilson
The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson
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The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson

The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson

by Brian C. Wilson

Overview

In the spring of 1871, Ralph Waldo Emerson boarded a train in Concord, Massachusetts, bound for a month-and-a-half-long tour of California—an interlude that became one of the highlights of his life. On their journey across the American West, he and his companions would take in breathtaking vistas in the Rockies and along the Pacific Coast, speak with a young John Muir in the Yosemite Valley, stop off in Salt Lake City for a meeting with Brigham Young, and encounter a diversity of communities and cultures that would challenge their Yankee prejudices.

Based on original research employing newly discovered documents, The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson maps the public story of this group’s travels onto the private story of Emerson’s final years, as aphasia set in and increasingly robbed him of his words. Engaging and compelling, this travelogue makes it clear that Emerson was still capable of wonder, surprise, and friendship, debunking the presumed darkness of his last decade.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781625346438
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date: 05/27/2022
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

BRIAN C. WILSON is professor of comparative religion at Western Michigan University and author of John E. Fetzer and the Quest for the New Age.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

1 From East to Far West 20

2 Salt Lake City 43

3 Emerson in California 64

4 Touring San Francisco and the Bay Area 84

5 Yosemite 105

6 The Mariposa Big Trees 128

7 Last Days in California 147

8 Emerson after California 165

Notes 193

Index 237

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