Những chuyến dạo chơi

by Henry David Thoreau, Nguyễn Công Nam (Translator)

“Chúng ta mang bên trong mình các kỳ quan mà chúng ta cứ đi tìm ở bên ngoài chúng ta; có toàn bộ châu Phi cùng những gì phi thường của nó trong chúng ta; chúng ta chính là tác phẩm đầy táo bạo và nhiều tính cách phiêu lưu của Tự nhiên; và người nào nghiên cứu nó một cách khôn ngoan thì sẽ học được, trong một bản tóm tắt ngắn, những gì mà các kẻ khác phải ra sức viết hàng đống sách, những tập dày bất tận, để tìm hiểu.” (Thomas Browne)

Henry David Thoreau: đó là một người Mỹ tuyệt đối cùng thế hệ với Melville. Cả hai còn có một điểm chung nữa: đều là độc giả của Thomas Browne, một người Anh, nhân vật lớn của các suy tư về tự nhiên thế kỷ 17.

Ở đây chủ yếu biết đến Thoreau của Walden hay Civil Disobedience, nhưng như thế thì cũng chẳng khác nào chỉ biết Tocqueville của Nền dân trị Mỹ, bỏ mất phần lớn nhất, về lịch sử Cách mạng. Những chuyến dạo chơi là Thoreau về tự nhiên, nhưng không phải chuyện chui vào rừng sống. Thoreau đi dạo, quan sát, sắp xếp và tưởng tượng. Cả một thế giới mở ra, đầy tràn, trong suốt, từng chi tiết nhỏ nhất hiện ra mồn một, vậy mà không có chi tiết nào thừa.

Genres: Nonfiction, Classics, Philosophy, Essays, Travel, American, Biography

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1906

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

[Glorious · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Walden but completely necessary read for the Thoreauvian (ahem...me.)

[John P · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume contains several works by Thoreau including Wild Apples, which I have reviewed elsewhere as a standalone piece.

Always interesting, Thoreau supplies vivid descriptions of his New England surroundings including flora and fauna, plus the odd human. Interesting, yes, but also somewhat tiresome as in Autumnal Tints (and Wild Apples as well). Thoreau seems determined, to a fault, to show off his intimate knowledge and bold conclusions especially when the casual reader would think that certainly there can not be that much to say about a particular topic e.g. fall colors.

The real gem in this work, for me, is not by Thoreau at all but is the Biographical Sketch of Thoreau by R.W Emerson. It is well-written and very informative. It is an intimate portrait that includes quotes from Thoreau and one or two of his acquaintances - it is hard to say "friends" as Thoreau's personality was such that one friend is quoted as saying, "I love Henry, but I cannot like him."

While extolling the fine qualities and remarkable talents of his subject, Emerson does not soften the picture he draws, even if the sketch was composed soon after Thoreau's death. He notes the penchant for contrariness and the use of unexpected and sometimes enigmatic, sometimes humorous turns of speech such as, "It was so dry, that you might call it wet." And which food does he like the best? "The nearest."

The anecdote about Thoreau convincing the University librarian, who did not want to lend books due to a certain library rule, that he, Thoreau, and not the librarian was in fact the proper custodian of the requested volumes, is priceless. He got the books.

On the whole, I can recommend this collection. The pieces are short, and easy to read. and if you have interest at all in Thoreau and / or the topics he covers, you will no doubt enjoy at least some of the contents.

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nature writing suffused by romanticism. Wild Apples prefigures locavorism.

[Ľuboš · Rating 5 out of 5]

At last, I delved into works of this classic nature writer. And I just happened to read Autumnal Tints surrounded by trees playing with countless colors. Thoreau's genius is in the rare intersection of great observatory talent, creative use of language (although this evolved a lot throughout his life and later texts are far more linguistically mature and creative than the old ones), and, most importantly, a strong sensitivity for wild nature refined on his everyday walks and longer retreats. Both his familiarity with wild things and their ways and his writing style reminded me closely of David Abram.

I will probably try to read Walden once more. When I tried to do it few years back, I became bored after few dozens of pages (somewhere around the part where he counts bills for logs for his cabin). I was probably not ready for reading it then, so I hope I am now.

And btw., you probably know Thoreau as a transcendentalist following up in Emerson's footsteps. But after reading Max Oelschlaeger's The Idea of Wilderness (the chapter dedicated to Thoreau, mostly), I'm very inclined to believe his interpretation of Thoreau breaking up with the transcendentalist tradition and developing his own philosophy of wilderness based based on the premise that meaning lies directly in the unmediated experience of nature rather than in a transcendental realm of God. Reading him from this perspective is not only very inspiring but also a lot truer somehow.

[Ranjan Patel, Psy.D, MFT · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the grandaddy of them all, the predecessor to Dillard and Owens. A philosophical, phenomenological, observational account of all he observes, rendered beautifully and faithfully. It's a bit heavy handed and takes a commitment to get through, but well worth it.

[Huy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Đọc "Những chuyến dạo chơi" của Henry David Thoreau trong chuyến đi Bali quả là một trải nghiệm thú vị và đầy kết nối. Khi tự mình đi lên núi, vào rừng, ngắm nhìn thác nước nơi đây, tôi cảm nhận được một sự đồng điệu sâu sắc với thiên nhiên, tương tự như cách Thoreau đã chiêm nghiệm và viết lại. Dù thiên nhiên nhiệt đới Bali khác xa những cánh rừng New England của ông, nhưng cái tinh thần tìm thấy sự an ủi và sức mạnh chữa lành từ tự nhiên mà Thoreau truyền tải lại vô cùng gần gũi và mang tính phổ quát. Một cuốn sách nhắc nhở ta về mối liên hệ và vẻ đẹp của thiên nhiên.

[Damla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witnessed his zest for life-the wild one...In such conditions that wildlife, environment and forests require special treatment, his thought-provoking essays of “Walking”, “ A Winter Walk” and “Night and Moonlight” could ignite the spark of awareness towars the issue.

[Supertramp · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Books of natural history make the most cheerful winter reading."

So does the works of Thoreau. A typical Transcendental read for all seasons, especially "in the depth of winter."

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Thùy Dương Mai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tôi xin lỗi vì tôi không thể kiên nhẫn đọc hết cuốn sách.
Một vài đoạn văn trong trẻo mà tôi có thể đọc được còn lại là vì cuốn sách (phiên bản Việt Nam) chữ quá nhỏ. Người đọc rất đau mắt

[Garth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excursions presents texts of nine essays, including some of Henry D. Thoreau’s most engaging and popular works, newly edited and based on the most authoritative versions of each. These essays represent Thoreau in many stages of his writing career, ranging from 1842—when he accepted Emerson’s commission to review four volumes of botanical and zoological catalogues in an essay that was published in The Dial as “Natural History of Massachusetts”—to 1862, when he prepared “Wild Apples,” a lecture he had delivered during the Concord Lyceum’s 1859-1860 season, for publication in the Atlantic Monthly after his death. Three other early meditations on natural history and human nature, “A Winter Walk,” “A Walk to Wachusett,” and “The Landlord,” were originally published in 1842 and 1843. Lively, light pieces, they reveal Thoreau’s early use of themes and approaches that recur throughout his work. “A Yankee in Canada,” a book-length account of an 1850 trip to Quebec that was published in part in 1853, is a fitting companion to Cape Cod and The Maine Woods, Thoreau’s other long accounts of explorations of internal as well as external geography. In the last four essays, “The Succession of Forest Trees” (1860), “Autumnal Tints” (1862), “Walking” (1862), and “Wild Apples” (1862), Thoreau describes natural and philosophical phenomena with a breadth of view and generosity of tone that are characteristic of his mature writing. In their skillful use of precisely observed details to arrive at universal conclusions, these late essays exemplify Transcendental natural history at its best.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series of essays are interesting in their systematic yet somewhat unscientific exploration of nature. Thoreau comes across as a poet who wishes he were a scientist, and ends up with this as the middle ground. His love of nature and country are admirable. My favorite entries were the first, which is essentially a book review of a natural survey commissioned by the state legislature, and "Autumnal Tints". Thoreau had a tendency to start with a fairly specific topic about nature, but end up with a lyrical philosophizing that may or may not feel relevant to the original idea. In "Autumnal Tints", though, he stays on topic with the description of the trees of Massachusetts in autumn, and he allows his descriptive gifts to shine as gloriously as the foliage. Likewise, the first essay has its book to comment upon, which keeps it on topic. We are treated to what may be the most lyric book review ever, and one that is probably more enjoyable than its source material. Other entries tend to meander a bit.

[Milan Pohl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zajímavý sborník filosoficky až poeticky laděných esejů o přírodě a jejích krásách, které nám mnohdy zůstávají skryty, protože se po nich neumíme dívat. Především slavná "Chůze" a méně slavné, ale vynikající "Podzimní barvy" rozhodně stojí za přečtení. 9/10

[torque · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taught me to look for beauty where I wouldn't necessary have looked before.

[John Tessitore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoreau may have lived in a different era but he was not writing for a different time. His approach to modernity was just as strange in the mid 19th century as it is today, and for the same reason--because his focus on the local and the natural, his provincial ecology, challenges global capitalists as well as big picture environmentalists who understand the forest but never get to know the trees. A collection of shorter pieces in which Thoreau examines the particulars of his specific natural habitat (around Concord, Massachusetts), Excursions is a relatively pure distillation of his provincial ecology--and a quiet but audacious critique of the way we live today.