Wild Fruits: Thoreau's Rediscovered Last Manuscript by Henry D. Thoreau

by Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was 44 years old when he died of tuberculosis in the early spring of 1862. He had acquired a measure of notoriety in his lifetime largely for his fervent support of abolitionism and his refusal to pay taxes to support the American war of conquest against Mexico, the subject of his widely circulated pamphlet Civil Disobedience. Closer to his hometown of Concord, Massachusetts, he was known as something of an eccentric who kept a home in the woods and took long walks when the citizens of the town were at work or church. We scarcely know Thoreau better, writes archivist and scholar Bradley we still remember him today for having spent time in jail and spinning philosophy out of the New England woods. On the strength of this lost, and now published, final manuscript of Thoreau's, Dean would have us think of him as a protoecologist, and for very good reason. In the last years of his life, Thoreau resolved to learn better the science behind nature, and in Wild Fruits he collected the lore and facts surrounding the plants around his home, observing such things as the quantity of chestnuts that local trees were producing, the myriad shapes of pine cones as they unfold, the taste of "fever bush," and the smell of sweet gale.

The unfinished manuscript, cataloging dozens of species, affords a fascinating glimpse into Thoreau's method as an amateur student of nature--a method worthy of close study and imitation. Dean adds greatly to it with his intelligent commentary, which revisits Thoreau's sources, corrects a few of his errors, and emphasizes the writer's importance to natural history and belles-lettres alike. --Gregory McNamee

Genres: Nature, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Natural History, Classics, Essays, Plants

Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, philosopher, and abolitionist who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.

Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism.

In 1817, Henry David Thoreau was born in Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1837, taught briefly, then turned to writing and lecturing. Becoming a Transcendentalist and good friend of Emerson, Thoreau lived the life of simplicity he advocated in his writings. His two-year experience in a hut in Walden, on land owned by Emerson, resulted in the classic, Walden: Life in the Woods (1854). During his sojourn there, Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican war, for which he was jailed overnight. His activist convictions were expressed in the groundbreaking On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849). In a diary he noted his disapproval of attempts to convert the Algonquins "from their own superstitions to new ones." In a journal he noted dryly that it is appropriate for a church to be the ugliest building in a village, "because it is the one in which human nature stoops to the lowest and is the most disgraced." (Cited by James A. Haught in 2000 Years of Disbelief.) When Parker Pillsbury sought to talk about religion with Thoreau as he was dying from tuberculosis, Thoreau replied: "One world at a time."

Thoreau's philosophy of nonviolent resistance influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. D. 1862.

More: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/tho...

http://thoreau.eserver.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Da...

http://transcendentalism-legacy.tamu....

http://www.biography.com/people/henry...

Reviews

[David Hensley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with everything I've read by Thoreau, this book is extremely rich with profound meaning. Filled with quips, digressions, and observations all worth their weight in gold, Thoreau uses this book to expound on an idea he defends elsewhere in "Walking" - that of going out into the world, unencumbered by idle thoughts, and simply living in it. Tasting its fruit, observing its patterns, and drinking it all up gratefully. It's hard to express how Thoreau does this so beautifully, but he does, every time. After Walden this is my favorite work of his.

[Rose-Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If all you know about Thoreau is Civil Disobedience and Walden Pond, you may be in for a surprise. This book contains numerous examples of Thoreau’s expertise as an observer, naturalist, environmentalist, and advocate of forest preservation. “Wild Fruits” was transcribed, from a bale of Thoreau’s papers, by Bradley Dean. Reproductions of a few pages of Thoreau’s handwritten manuscript are included to show the horrible handwriting that had to be deciphered.

Here’s a couple of “takes” from the volume:

• Biting into a wild November apple, expecting it to have a rich taste, Thoreau finds it “sour enough to set a squirrel’s teeth on edge and make a jay scream.”

• Climbing a “small” 20-foot white pine, intending to collect cones, Thoreau’s hands are covered with pitch from the cones. He wonders how squirrels keep their paws and whiskers clean when they gnaw the cones. Elsewhere in the book, Thoreau describes rubbing bayberries between his hands to clean off the pitch.

Over a number of years (1852-1860), Thoreau kept meticulous phenological records of the dates of many plants’ yearly progress – leafing, flowering, fruiting and seeding. Fast-forward to our own century; Richard Primack, Abraham Miller-Rushing, Becca Stadtlander, Caroline Polgar, and Amanda Gallinat have collaborated on studies comparing Thoreau’s average dates with those of known vegetation in the Concord area. Findings: (1) Since Thoreau’s time a substantial amount of native plants in Concord have either disappeared or become rare; (2) In comparison to 2004-2012, average dates are 11 days earlier (caused in part by Climate Change, increased pavement and citification, pollution, and increased deer population); (3) Leaf-out of 43 woody plants that were compared in 2009-2013 averaged 18 days earlier than in Thoreau’s observations.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as a gift(2004)from a mentor/co-worker while teaching at GHS. She reveled in my love of the outdoors down to the very last leaf and/or berry. This book travels with me throughout the year. The binding is now broken,pages are dirty and the margins filled with notes,thoughts,ideas, etc.

[劉凍青 · Rating 4 out of 5]

植物真惹人愛。讀書時我差點忘卻自己身處石屎森林，簡直按捺不住出門在林間草間遊蕩的衝動。於是真的在上週末帶著書去草原，把藍色、白色和綠色盛滿了眼眶。 梭羅熱愛大自然，他不斷地提醒讀者：大自然給了我們如此多的餽贈，如果不去觀察、去採摘、去品嘗，那我們就像闖進花園的公牛一樣，暴殄天物。他的萬物平等理念也貫穿始終，使讀者深受感染：懂得尊重任何他者的生命，會讓人更熱愛自己的生命。 【挑刺】長長的副標題、後勒口上的賣點提煉、圖書簡介的文案撰寫，配上美麗的封面設計及插畫，這本書的包裝在吸引當代讀者上做到了極致。只是遠離了這本書最重要的氣質：梭羅對大自然的敬愛。 20823

[Marjorie Elwood]

A catalog of when he saw each plant flower, in successive years, I just couldn't make it through this one....

[Rebecca Faith Brown]

Well-written. Hilarious in his extreme idealism.

[Ryen O'Meara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even incomplete, the vision is grander than any almanac or botanical survey heretofore composed: ripening wild fruits as seasonal scripture.

Further commentary on land preservation, the commodification of Nature, and Indigenous wisdom, as well as potent botanical and environmental observation, all support this work as being far ahead of its time.

The pages and pages of notes on species lacking an associated essay does make for a difficult read at times, but those with essays do make it so worth the while.

[Giovanna]

This is now a perpetual enjoyment. Definitely something I wish I had read to my kids.

[Julie Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild Fruits Thoreau's Rediscovered Last Manuscript
1850's This lost manuscript is mostly about Thoreau and his time studying the plants he lives near.
Everything from when they first come out in the spring, the crop they produce and the taste and the history of the plant itself and how it was used in the past.
Wish I had the actual book as it might come with pictures of the actual plants that I could then identify here locally but this is a book on tape.

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love historical botany and botanical histories. It was really fun to read him describing his observations of places I'd been to in New England, as well as read his descriptions of plants I myself often find in the forest. Also, this manuscript is full of historical phenological observations - notes on which plants bloomed when, how much, in what year. Beyond the plants, he also says brilliant things about nature and humanity that we can still relate to

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

a field guide more than anything, though it does contain some little story and folklore snippets.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoreau's notes on edible wild foods (mostly fruit)and seeds. Interesting details...

When I lived on a farm, I kept notes like these about both the wild and cultivated plants.

[Mel]

(only half!)